Sackcloth and Ashes
by pain17ification
Summary: During his final clash with Sasuke, Naruto is sent away from his home and everything he loved. Torn apart by his failure, he becomes a broken man that is found by a certain amber-eyed woman. Seeing worth in him, she offers him a new purpose in hopes of corrupting him to her cause. But, as this displaced and broken man seeks repentance, will it in fact be HE that corrupts HER?
1. Chapter 1: The Exile

**Hello again! *smiling and waving***

 **So, here I am with a new crossover featuring my favorite manga series,** _ **Naruto**_ **, and my new favorite YouTube series,** _ **RWBY**_ **!**

 **Now, I won't lie to you all; I only just recently finished watching** _ **RWBY**_ **, and this is my first attempt at a crossover that involves it. So, please don't give me too hard of a time with this.**

 _ **Naruto**_ **is owned by Kishimoto-sama while** _ **RWBY**_ **was made by the late, yet AMAZINGLY talented, Monty Oum-sama!**

* * *

 _Sackcloth and Ashes_

 _Chapter One: The Exile_

* * *

"In other news, Huntsmen Scouts have returned from their recent excursion of the strange meteor impact last night and have submitted their reports to the higher authorities. Apparently, the failed attempt of Vale's expansion, Mountain Glenn, has seen a dramatic increase in Grimm activity within hours after the impact."

A woman, dressed in dark red with amber highlights to her dress, was tempted to roll her equally amber eyes at the obvious outcome of the failed expansion. She raised her cup of warm coffee to her lips and took a sip, but she had to bring it away when she heard the next part of the report.

"However, last evening's unexpected phenomenon is curiously making the Grimm, according to the Scouts, act in a strangely docile behavior. Even more concerning is how the reports state that they seem to be guarding something within the ruined city; most likely what had caused that impact yesterday. According to authorities, they plan to make another excursion with more seasoned Huntsmen soon, but it won't be for some time."

The woman used a remote to shut off the newscast before leaning back in her seat, eyes closed as she hummed thoughtfully. For as long as anyone in Remnant could remember, the creatures of the Grimm have always been a dangerous sort, targeting anything created by man and anyone who exuded some form of negativity. For them to act docile and protective meant that whatever had crashed down on that failed expansion must've been incredibly "pure" to the point of the Grimm viewing it as worth such guardianship.

"Still though, it is strange that they would want to protect it," the woman murmured aloud, still deep in thought. "What could they be guarding?"

A knock at her door roused her from her thoughts and she allowed the knocker to enter. Stepping into her room was a darker skinned woman with minty green hair and red eyes. She was dressed in an intricate white top that had an olive undershirt and white pants with dark brown chaps. Her hair was cut short save for two long locks in the back that reached her lower back.

"Emerald," greeted the woman in red. "What is it?"

"I just saw an interesting newscast," answered the red-eyed girl, taking a seat across from her boss. Seeing the woman's look, Emerald continued, "I figured you saw it as well. Should we go investigate? Something like this is just…bizarre."

"True, occurrences like this are definitely far from the norm," agreed the woman, her amber eyes glowing for a split second. "I'm still debating whether or not we go and check it out. While I had plans to use Mountain Glenn, it's still a major hotspot for the Grimm; even if they're reportedly docile."

Emerald nodded in understanding. "So…keep the group small then?"

Amber eyes gleamed in approval. "That's what I was thinking. The two of us, plus Neo and Mercury will investigate. Roman will focus on gathering more Dust while Adam and his partner have plans to _liberate_ a Schnee train."

Nodding once again, the pickpocket stood up and headed for the door. "I'll go tell the others then."

"Meet at the bullhead. You all have a half hour."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

Soft breathing could be heard within a small cave-in on a mountainside. The breaths were soft enough to make one think the owner was sleeping, but they were in fact wide awake and staring at a small fire with empty blue eyes. The light of the fire gave some luminance to the figure, but it was only good enough to show a man that looked like he had just stepped out of hell itself.

His blonde hair seemed to droop in response to his depressing aura while his clothes, once a bright example of his personality, were torn, burnt, and cut into. The black and orange jacket was so damaged that it only had the left sleeve and upper back intact. Orange pants were sliced and torn in various places while the black sandals with protective padding looked ready to fall apart. Because the jacket had been so damaged, the young man's mesh undershirt was visible to the world and was more intact than the rest of his clothing.

To finish off his illuminated appearance were three things. The first were his birthmarks that were as visible as ever on his face in the form of three lines on each cheek; the lines themselves reminiscent of whiskers. Resting in his lap was a metal plate with a spiral symbol that had an arrow tip and thin tail; a leaf. The black cloth was just as damaged as the rest of his clothes and the metal plate had suffered some denting, scratches, and scuffing.

The final thing that was highlighted in the flame was the drying patch of blood directly beneath where his right arm should've been. The arm itself was missing from the elbow down, and the wound looked downright grizzly with blood caking it and scorch markings along the edges; showing that what had cut it off also slightly cauterized it.

His breathing remained soft as he kept staring at the flames before him. Blue eyes that portrayed emptiness were in fact staring searchingly into the flames, as if hoping to discover something. In his depressed state, he saw faces of familiar people in the fire; people he had lost, people he had cherished…people he had failed.

The man was Naruto Uzumaki, a man who had been displaced from his home to a place and time unknown to him. He and his comrades had just finished sealing the Mother of All Chakra, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, for the second time in the woman's life. The end of the Fourth Great Ninja War looked to be within reach…but it was then pulled away from their grasp when Naruto's estranged friend, Sasuke Uchiha, decided to try and revolutionize the Shinobi World by killing the village leaders; the Five Kage.

Because Sasuke was needed to help Naruto free the world of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, the Uzumaki had no choice but to chase down the Uchiha and face him once more; but this time it was to be their final battle. Sasuke, holder of the Sage of Six Paths' Yin Mark, had to be stopped and Naruto planned to use everything – including his gifted Yang Mark – to do so.

Unlike their previous clashes, this one proved to be far more destructive, each deadlock changing the very landscape of their battlefield. It had evolved from a clash between rivals to a battle of gods if one were to witness the fight.

As the fight drew to a close, Sasuke called on the last of his Yin Chakra while Naruto had the half of the Kyuubi, Kurama, that he carried help him strengthen his weakening Yang Chakra. Darkness and Light gathered their power, raising it to the highest points before their avatars charged for one final impact; one last clash to end it all.

And it did end…but it was not in the way one would hope.

Light did not conquer Darkness that day. Instead, the warring philosophies, the two ends of the Spectrum of Balance, ended up backfiring on their avatars in their impact. While Sasuke had been blown back by the backlash, Naruto had been forced into a rip in space and time just moments after witnessing his right arm and Sasuke's left arm get destroyed in their clash.

Thrown into the rip, and too weak to fight it, Naruto found himself flung through a void of distorted colors that soon began to merge into a swirl of Darkness and Light. Kurama, having bonded with Naruto and seeing him as an invaluable partner and friend, gave up the last of its chakra – its very core – to prevent Naruto from being ripped apart in the void.

The last thing Naruto saw of his partner was the vulpine grin that he had become so accustomed to fading away from his seal before he lost consciousness.

He woke up in a ruined and abandoned city the day before, having just recently moved into the cave-in he resided in at the moment. He had spent the first day laying in the crater his impact made, still too weak at the time to do anything else. Strangely though, he had been visited by odd black creatures that had bone white masks on their faces. The creatures themselves took the form of animals, and he had mainly seen wolfish versions of them checking him out.

The weirdest part though was how they seemed to completely disregard him as any sort of threat. Part of him figured it was because he looked so wounded and weak, but another part felt that something else was at play. However, instead of viewing him as a threat, they looked almost…protective of his presence; as if they wished to shield him from further harm.

Once he had recovered enough strength, he forced himself to his feet and found his current residence before gathering the wood for his now dying fire. Within the dwindling flames, he saw the last group of faces that belonged to everyone he had failed to save. These faces consisted of his brother in pain, Gaara; the young woman who had declared her love for him, Hinata Hyuuga; his silver haired teacher, Kakashi Hatake; and finally his pinkette teammate who he had promised to bring Sasuke back to, Sakura Haruno.

Deep inside of his dead eyes, tears formed and rolled down his cheeks before his eyes clenched shut and he curled into himself. Through his choked sobs, the exiled shinobi whispered apology after apology to the dying fire as it slowly whittled away to mere embers.

* * *

From the bullhead that had landed a fair distance away from the abandoned city, four people stepped out. The first was Emerald Sustrai who was accompanied by her partner. Said partner wore a slate gray and black two-tone partial-zip jacket that covered his upper body, a single notched belt with a bandana marked with his personal emblem draped over it, and a pair of matching colored pants with black boots. The young man was named Mercury Black.

Third to step off of the bullhead was a rather short girl who had an intricately designed umbrella lazily hanging over her shoulder and open, covering her from the afternoon sunlight. The girl wore a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants, and gray boots with very high heels. Under her jacket was a black corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom which exposed her hips. She also wore a multitude of necklaces, which hung haphazardly around her neck. Her hair was uniquely colored half pink and half brown, with white streaks in the pink half while her eyes were two separate colors; brown coloring the left and pink filling the right. She was known simply as Neopolitan; Neo for short.

Lastly was their boss, who was still dressed in her regular attire. Said attire consisted of a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, V-neck mini-dress with yellow designs. There was a blue feather-like accessory on her right hip, at the top of an open portion of her dress and the dress itself ended in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, ending just above the knees. There was also a baseball diamond-shaped keyhole on the dress' upper back at the same height as her chest. The sleeves ended in a triangle shape, which are wrapped or tied around her middle finger, with the gold designs of the sleeve taking over at the wrists. Underneath the dress, she wore black shorts and her accessories consisted of a gold loop earring with a black gem dangling from it on her right ear, dark glass high-heeled shoes, and a jeweled anklet on her right leg. Finishing off her look was a symbol on her upper back, in the keyhole of her dress. It looked to be a black tattoo of a pair of high heel shoes placed sole to sole, both forming a combined heart shape inside.

She was Cinder Fall, and she stared down at the ruined city with a small smirk as her amber eyes gave off a slight glow. "Well then, shall we get moving?" she suggested before taking point.

"Whatever you say, boss," Mercury replied as he followed her.

Emerald gave him a look at the slightly disrespectful tone, but she still answered her boss. "Yes, ma'am."

Neo simply smirked in response. She never spoke and the others assumed she was mute; even though Cinder knew better. She was fine with the short girl staying silent, so long as she remained a loyal and effective asset to her cause.

It took some time to reach the city, and the group of four had to handle some rather aggressive Grimm that attacked in packs. Most of them were of the Beowolf class, but there were a couple of Ursa class Grimm amongst them. It soon got to the point where Cinder wasted no time and used her Semblance to set them on fire whenever they made their presences known.

"What the hell could they be so hyped up about?" Mercury asked as the group walked through the city's center.

"Didn't you watch that newscast earlier?" Emerald asked him in response, earning a deadpan look from him. "Oh right, you're too good for news. Forgot about that."

Before Mercury could retort, Cinder spoke up. "The Huntsmen Scouts returned last night to Vale and they said that the Grimm are acting rather protective of whatever crashed into this place sometime ago. With no one else in the area, they also showed a strangely docile behavior, but obviously they're far more aggressive to anyone who shows up."

Neo listened to them in silence before her eyes turned to the mountainside. Her brows furrowed and she blinked, having both of her irises change to a bright pink as she searched for something. When she found it, she saw that it was a very faint light that was flickering from what looked to be a hole in the cliffs. Blinking again, her eyes returned to their previous coloration before she tapped Cinder's arm.

"Yes, Neo?" asked the woman before her attention was directed to the cliffs by the ice cream themed girl. "You saw something, did you?" At Neo's nod, the group changed direction for the mountain. As they got closer, Cinder saw the dying light that Neo had seen earlier and smirked. "It appears that we're not the only ones here with these Grimm."

"A straggler maybe?" Emerald guessed.

Mercury frowned. "That'd make sense, but why would they stay so close to these Grimm? And why haven't the Grimm hunted them down yet?"

Cinder resumed walking as she asked, "We won't know until we see them for ourselves now, will we?"

With that, the four carefully moved up the slope before they reached the entrance of the cave-in. What was interesting about it was how the walls looked like they had been bored into by a drilling force; but there weren't any tools or equipment in the area or even in the city. Looking further in, they saw that a small fire had been reduced to embers while a shadowed figure was curled into themselves against the rocky wall.

Producing a small flame to act as a torch, Cinder had it light up the cave so that they could get a better look at the figure. What they saw was a blonde young man, around their age at the least, curled up with his back to them. They saw that he wore predominantly orange and black clothes that were heavily damaged and worn while a red spiraling symbol rested proudly on the back of his jacket. There was also a puddle of dried blood next to him; obviously from his injuries.

"…go away…" they heard a broken voice almost whisper to them from the now illuminated darkness. "…please, just leave me alone…"

Emerald and Mercury tensed themselves in preparation to act, but Cinder raised her free hand to stop them. Meanwhile, Neo boldly walked over to the huddled man, using her now closed umbrella to prod him. After a few moments of just poking him, she stopped and turned to Cinder with a shrug.

"Are you one of the Huntsmen that were scouting this area?" Cinder asked, not wasting any time.

"…"

His silence was her answer, which made her slender brows crease. She was not one to be ignored.

Stepping over to him, she moved around his huddled form and got a better look at his face. She saw his whisker marked cheeks, scuffed face, and empty blue eyes and she was able to personally confirm that he was emotionally broken; or at least very close to it. He looked like a man who had lost everything important to him, which meant that he no longer had anything to live for.

Her frown strangely softened at that, and it made her curious. Why did she feel a faint sense of pity for this man; a man that she had never once met or should even be concerned about? She gave a sideways glance to Neo, and her eyes were both a pale white which was rare to see on her face.

Turning back to the blonde, she crouched down, absently noting the worn headband with the metal plate lying beside him. "What's your name?"

"…Naruto," he murmured, eyes unfocused as he just stared at the wall in front of him. "Naruto Uzumaki…"

His name was rather odd to her, but she didn't comment on that. There was no need to at any rate since it wouldn't do anything for her. "You have the look of a man without a purpose. Why is that, Naruto?" she asked, mixing in some false sympathy in her tone. She was, after all, a mistress of manipulation, and this man looked so tempting to be manipulated.

"…"

He was once again silent, but his eyes finally were pulled away from the wall when Neo moved over and grabbed the headband. She studied it for a moment before it was taken from her.

"Don't touch that," he said in a slightly stronger voice, much to Cinder's curiosity; though it was still incredibly broken.

"That must be very important to you. Is it related to your loss of purpose?" Cinder queried, hoping to take advantage of his brief emotional spark of life.

"…it's a symbol of my failure," he answered, his voice once again growing weaker. "I used to wear it proudly…but now I don't deserve it…"

Cinder briefly glanced at Emerald and Mercury, giving them a silent message to stand watch at the entrance while Neo took a seat in front of the blonde man. "Why do you feel that way, Naruto?" asked the amber-eyed woman, her tone deceptively soft.

"…because I failed them…"

"Who did you fail?" she pressed, reaching over to place her delicate hand on his shoulder. She had him talking, so now she just needed to press on.

"Everyone," he answered, eyes closing as a tear escaped. "I couldn't stop him…and they…" He trembled as he fought more tears.

She frowned at the vague answer. "Who couldn't you stop?"

Slowly, his eyes opened, and she saw life in them again; though it was an angry and betrayed source of life. "Sasuke…" he almost growled out. "He was supposed to help them… And I couldn't… I couldn't stop him…" The life began to die again. "They couldn't be saved… I failed them…"

Getting the gist of it, Cinder kept her hand on his shoulder to show a sense of sympathetic support. Mentally though, she was going over what she figured out. Apparently, Naruto and this Sasuke person were meant to help an unknown group of people, but Sasuke refused to do so. Based on what Naruto said, he was unable to help them on his own and tried to stop Sasuke from leaving in some manner; but he failed to do so and the unknown group of people were unable to be saved as a consequence of that failure. Those people he failed were more than likely his purpose for living; people he cared for greatly. And now that he lost them, he no longer had anything to live for.

While tragic, it was still an opportunity for Cinder to take advantage of. The Grimm in this area were ignoring this man who had an incredible amount of negativity coming from him, which meant that he was practically invisible to them or seen as unthreatening. She could use that to her advantage in more Grimm infested locales.

All she had to do was convince Naruto to have a new purpose.

Looking down at him, she focused on his missing arm. More than likely, he lost it while trying to stop whoever Sasuke was, which added onto that feeling of betrayal and failure. It would be easy to get him a replacement; but the problem there is getting him to want a replacement in the first place. Some veterans refused such prosthetics and lived the remainder of their lives proudly without them; seeing them as a crutch or a sign of weakness.

She'd have to try and get him to see that it wasn't a weakness when offering the replacement to him. But for now, she needed to get him out of his broken depression; a task that was much easier said than done. Whoever this man – she couldn't call him a child, even if he was still a teenager – was, he was an obvious soldier. Some soldiers never recovered after becoming so broken; so she had her work cut out for her.

Absently, she saw that Neo had also taken a slight interest in the blonde man. Her eyes were still that pale white and she had a hand rested on his head. A brow rose when she saw Neo gently run her hand through his hair, which made a small spark of life return to his eyes. Curious…

Standing up, Cinder spoke up, "Neo, we're leaving." The petite girl looked to her briefly before turn back to Naruto with a faint smirk. After she patted his head and made her way to the entrance, Cinder directed her voice to Naruto. "We'll be in the city until the morning, Naruto. If you want, we could offer you a purpose once more; but the choice is yours." Turning around, she made sure her voice was soft and sympathetic as she added, "Think about it…"

With her piece said, and her smirk hidden from his view, she made her way out of his personally made cave, leaving the broken man to his thoughts.

* * *

"Do you think he'll come, Cinder?" asked Emerald as she sat on her bedroll. It was a few hours past midnight and the group was staying in a ruined, yet still stable, building close to Naruto's cave. "He seemed really depressed."

"Depression could be a great motivator," answered Cinder, smirking as she read from a worn out book she had found in the building. It was a simple fantasy novel, but it helped to pass time. "I have a feeling we'll be seeing Mr. Uzumaki before we leave."

"And…if we don't?" Mercury asked in response, dragging out the first word of his question.

"If we don't, then we continue as planned. After all, there isn't anything a man that broken could do to stop us." Looking up from her book, she saw Neo seated on some rubble, staring out of the broken window and towards the blonde's cave. "See anything, Neo?" The girl turned to Cinder and shook her head. "Keep a lookout, then."

Mercury raised a curious brow. "You seem to be really interested in this guy, boss. Any reason why?"

Cinder regarded him, smirk still in place and her eyes glowing faintly. "There's something rather…peculiar about him that I find myself drawn to. If you think about it, the Grimm seem to be uncaring or even unaware of his presence; even through the obvious deluge of negativity coming from him. We could use that to our advantage when we move to more infested areas."

Emerald nodded in understanding while Mercury hummed thoughtfully. "I'm guessing you had plans already for tackling those places before we even met this guy?" Cinder nodded in response. "What's the real endgame you're going for, anyway?"

"You already know the answer to that," Cinder said dismissively.

"I know what you told me; not what you actually have planned," he shot back.

"Merc!" scolded Emerald. "Why are you questioning her when she hasn't done anything to make us mistrust her?"

"Because I like to know what I'm going for before I do anything so risky!"

"This coming from the man who killed his assassin of a father?" fired back Emerald, making Mercury growl.

Cinder was about to step in, but a new voice caught her by surprise. "…Did I come at a bad time?"

The four others all turned at once, seeing Naruto standing in the doorway of the large room they were staying in. His eyes looked tired and unsure, but Cinder still gave a smirk at seeing him. "Not at all, Naruto. Please, have a seat," she assured before offering him an old crate to sit on. Hesitantly, he took it and faced her, and she saw that he still had empty eyes, but they also held a level of anxiety in them.

Unknown to the four, due to leaving Naruto alone hours before, the Uzumaki had spent the time in resumed solitude thinking over his options; however limited they were. He was in an unknown place, and full of people who lacked chakra from what he could sense due to his years of training. He needed answers and, more importantly, he needed to see if there were ways for him to attempt a return trip back home.

So, with those needs in mind, he decided to take the offer from the woman in red. However, that didn't mean he planned on being tricked into doing something he didn't want to.

Smiling, the woman started to speak. "I apologize for being rude earlier. You gave us your name, but we never gave you ours in return. My associates are Emerald Sustrai," he was waved at politely by her, "Mercury Black," he was given a short nod, "and Neopolitan, though we just call her Neo." She smirked at him, both eyes turning a bright pink. "As for myself, my name is Cinder Fall."

"Uh… Nice to meet you all, I guess," he replied, still feeling a bit awkward. "So…you said you could help me out." Cinder nodded in response. "How?"

"You lack a purpose, a reason to keep going, yes?" He nodded hesitantly. "I could give one to you. I could help you find something new to fight for, and all I would ask in return is that you help me with my own goals."

"And those goals are?"

Her smirk grew as she reached a hand over and patted his cheek in amusement. "You don't expect me to just reveal everything to you, do you?"

He felt something…strange when she made physical contact with him. It was surprisingly a good strange though, but it just made him more confused. "No, I guess not… Then what would I be helping you with?"

She removed her hand and leaned back in her seat, and he frowned when the warmth he felt left him. She seemed to notice this, for her eyes glowed faintly for a moment. "The Grimm seem to disregard you entirely, whether it's because they find you unthreatening or something else remains to be seen. My goals involve journeying to areas that are constantly visited by Grimm; some even being classified as infested."

"Grimm?" he asked, raising a brow. "What are Grimm?"

The others looked surprise at the total sincerity of his confusion. "You've never heard of Grimm? Y'know, those black creatures with glowing red eyes and white masks and stuff on them?" Emerald asked incredulously.

"Oh, that's what they're called? They came up to me after I crashed into this place, but they didn't attack me."

"They instead acted protective of you, right?" guessed Cinder, earning a confused nod. Her smirk returned. "Interesting… This means that the Grimm see you as something important and they naturally try to protect you from outside _threats_." She used air quotes for threats. "This makes you even more helpful to my goals."

He frowned at her, showing skepticism. "What would you have me do in these Grimm covered places? And what if whatever is happening between me and them suddenly runs out?"

"To answer your second question, I already had a different plan in place; just in case you didn't show up. If the Grimm start treating you like the rest of us, then I'll just go back to my original plans." She barely caught his wince, which made her mentally grin. On the outside, she reached over and patted his crippled arm gently. "Don't think that's all I wanted to ask your help for. It's my hope that you come to view us as…partners of sorts. We look after our own, and maybe you can become one of our own after some time." Her mental grin grew when she saw him looking away, averting his gaze from hers. She was wearing him down. "We could all watch each other's backs and keep each other safe. I will never betray you, Naruto. You have my word."

Moving her hand up, she placed it on his cheek and gently guided his gaze back to her own, making his blue orbs lock onto her amber ones. She gave him a smile and saw his resistance wearing down even further. A part of her wondered if he would deny her when he closed his eyes, hiding them from her own.

"…You promise?" he asked softly, trying to hide his anxiety.

Because he kept his eyes closed, he missed her eyes glow fully, showing her pleasure at winning him over. She gently rubbed her hand across his cheek, smile remaining as she answered, "I promise you, Naruto."

Her eyes lost their glow just in time as he opened his eyes. Locking them on hers for a few more moments, her smile grew when she saw him nod slowly. "…Alright then," he said. "I'll help you out, but only if you help me in return."

"Of course," she said assuringly, removing her hand from his face. "If it is within my power, then I'll do all I can to help you." She then stretched out her left arm, seeing as it was his sole arm at the present time. "Partners?"

He kept his gaze on her delicate hand while the others watched in silence. Emerald was hoping that her mistress's efforts wouldn't be wasted, and she kept herself tense in case the blonde denied her. Mercury just watched with an outward look of boredom while inwardly he wondered just what made the Uzumaki so worth Cinder's attention and interest. As for Neo, she kept her pink eyes locked on Naruto's. Ever since she had set her sights on his emotionally hurt, blue orbs, she felt herself drawn to them, and she wanted to know why.

Why did she feel a kinship to this man? Why did his pain call out to her own? Why did she feel this…desire to be closer to him?

Sighing, Naruto finally reached his arm over and shook hands with Cinder, making her smirk. "Partners…" he agreed before his thoughts turned inward. _'Everyone…I swear I'll try to get back home. Just please…hold on a little while longer.'_

* * *

"W-What is this…?" a certain Uchiha gasped out in shock as the moon that held Kaguya started to crack. As it did, an immense pressure was felt throughout the world as storm clouds as dark as oblivion began forming. The moon kept cracking as more and more clouds formed before, with a massive shockwave, a part of the moon shattered and unleashed an invisible force of deep negativity upon the world.

As it floated above in the night sky, its broken pieces being held close by because of the moon's gravity, the clouds began to rain thick, black globs. The black raindrops, once making impact with the earth, began to rise up and take the shape of black furred/skinned animals with menacing red eyes and bone white masks on their faces.

From the biggest source of _rainfall_ , the drops began to merge and grow before, with a roar that echoed across the country, a fierce dragon rose up from the darkness.

Falling to his knees, Sasuke Uchiha knew he was still too weak to do anything as the dragon set its sights on his form. Never before had he felt his situation be so…grim. Before he became consumed by the dark beast, he only had one thought echo across his mind.

 _'Naruto… Forgive me…'_

* * *

 **BAM! How's THAT for my first** _ **RWBY**_ **crossover?!**

 ***anxious* Honestly, I'm beyond nervous on how you guys will take this idea. I just hope that I didn't disappoint any of you all with this idea.**

 **A couple of things before I go. Firstly, before any of you start to ask about it, yes Naruto was flung across time. I honestly drew inspiration for that from** **Remnant's Maelstrom Shinobi** **which has been amazingly written and thought out by** _ **MothBallz**_ **. For fans of** _ **RWBY**_ **, I highly recommend reading it!**

 **Secondly is the title:** _ **Sackcloth and Ashes**_ **. I used this title with inspiration from my Catholic faith. Just hear me out on this, because according to my research:**

 **Sackcloth and ashes were used in Old Testament times as a symbol of debasement, mourning, and/or repentance. Someone wanting to show their repentant heart would often wear sackcloth, sit in ashes, and put ashes on top of their head. Sackcloth was a coarse material usually made of black goat's hair, making it quite uncomfortable to wear. The ashes signified desolation and ruin. When someone died, the act of putting on sackcloth showed heartfelt sorrow for the loss of that person.**

 **In this story, Naruto feels he has failed everyone that he has cherished back in his time. Because of that feeling of failure, he is desperate for a way to repent while his heart mourns for the people he lost. So, based on that, I felt the title made sense.**

 **What do you guys think?**

 **One last thing; and it's something I'm sure you all are wondering. The pairing. Now, my plan is to pair Naruto with both Cinder and Neo for sure. However, I'm on the fence about adding a third girl, so I'd like you guys to help me out with that.**

 **If you want a third girl from the series, then tell me who you want, a DETAILED reason why you want her, and a suggestion for how I could add her into the story.**

 **If you DON'T want a third girl, then just tell me and throw in whatever you feel supports that decision.**

 **HUGE thanks to my friends _Dylan Millwood_ and _DJexe_ for their help on this idea! You guys rock!**

 **Until next time!**

 _ **~pain17ification~**_


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to Remnant

**_*channels inner Pyrrha*_ Hello again!**

 **I'm speechless at how well received this idea has been. I gave this a shot on an impulse – like _ALL_ my stories – but I didn't think I'd do so well with a series that I had only recently finished watching.**

 **Thank you all very much for your support, everyone! I'll try my best to keep this story entertaining and enjoyable!**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **pain17ification**_ **owns nothing from these two incredible series!**

* * *

 _Sackcloth and Ashes_

 _Chapter Two: Welcome to Remnant_

* * *

"So," began an orange haired man dressed in a white coat with a black bowler hat and cane, "this was what you four left me _all alone_ for?" His visible black eye looked down at the pair of blue eyes that belonged to the crippled blonde. Turning his attention to Cinder, he smirked and added, "He don't look like much."

"Neither do you, at first glance," she smoothly replied, smirking at his deflated ego. "Besides," she stepped up to Naruto from her position behind him, placing a soft hand on his shoulder, "I have no doubt that Mr. Uzumaki will be a _very_ welcome addition to our team. Now, if you will follow me, Naruto, I'll show you to a spare room. It will be yours for the foreseeable future."

"Right…" he replied in a soft tone as he trailed behind her.

Calling back to the others, Cinder ordered, "Find our newest partner some decent clothes, please. We can't have him walking around in rags."

Emerald took initiative and replied, "I'll see what I can find in town, ma'am," before she made her way for the exit of their current base; a foreclosed and abandoned hotel in the city of Vale.

Neo stopped her just before she made it to the door before handing her a slip of paper. As Emerald looked it over, she saw two spelled out colors as well as an accurate drawing of both the red spiral on Naruto's destroyed jacket and the symbol on his headband. The colors written down were orange and black, so it gave Emerald a better idea of what to get the Uzumaki.

"Thanks, Neo," the minty greenette drawled out with an eye-roll as she left the hotel.

Neo only smirked before walking off to find her newest source of interest. She was in such a good mood that she almost skipped down the old hallways.

* * *

"I apologize for all of the dust and any other potential damages to the room," Cinder began, opening the door for her newest partner, "but I'm sure you understand that there's only so much we could do for this place while staying under the radar."

"It's fine," he replied, stepping into the room and giving it a onceover. "I've stayed in worse places."

"Have you?" she queried, honestly somewhat surprised. "I figured you were the type to live in, and I mean no offense, a rather average home. Where did you stay for most of your life?"

Pocketing his headband, he moved to the windows and tore off the ruined curtains before opening the windows. "I lived in an old apartment in the poorer part of my home village. It wasn't much, but it was still home." Turning to her, he requested, "Close the door for a moment while I clear out the dust. Also, you might want to go outside so you don't get hit by any of it."

Curious about what he planned to do, she complied, but stayed inside of the room. "A little dirt never hurt anyone," she commented.

Shrugging, he closed his eyes and focused his chakra, mixing wind nature into it before he manipulated the energy with his left hand. Within the manipulation, he had the wind from outside the window sweep in and create a small vacuum that took in all of the dust before it flew outside in a twisting manner; almost like a drill of wind. Once outside, the drill dispersed and let the dust get carried off in the outside breeze while Naruto brushed off any lingering dirt on his destroyed clothes.

Cinder did the same, though she held a smirk at the impressive use of wind. "I never thought that you would have a Semblance that used the wind."

Raising a brow at her, he asked a question that, once again, caught her by surprise. "What's a Semblance?"

* * *

When Emerald returned with her backpack stuffed with clothes, she was curious to see Cinder and Naruto sitting across from one another with only a coffee table between them. Moving closer, she saw that the table had a book that was open to a diagram of a genderless body with highlights on their core.

"…is the basis of Aura and Semblances," she heard Cinder finish saying. "Do you understand so far?"

He crossed what he could of his arms, eyes closed thoughtfully. "Sort of… Although, it sounds like this Aura acts as an incomplete version of chakra while a person's Semblance makes up the missing parts."

The new word caught Emerald's interest, as well as Cinder's. "You mentioned that word a couple of times during my impromptu lesson. What exactly is _chakra_ , Naruto?"

He was about to answer before he turned to Emerald. "You can listen too, if you want. Actually," he held up his only hand and made a half ram seal, producing a burst of smoke that revealed a perfect copy of him, "go get the others. I'd rather only say this once."

The clone nodded and walked off, and Naruto turned to the two women only to see their eyes focused on his retreating duplicate. "You…can replicate yourself?" asked Cinder after a brief pause.

"Yes," he answered simply, having to get used to how chakra seemed to be an unfounded source of power in this place he was now in. "I'll explain more when the others get here."

Cinder nodded at this and reached for her cup of warm tea while Emerald took a seat beside her. After a few minutes, the others arrived after Naruto's clone, and he had to fight his slight amusement at their surprise. He didn't want to show happiness when he knew he should be more worried about the others back home.

While Roman and Mercury stood behind the two-person couch that the women occupied, Neo decided to sit on the other couch next to the blonde, her eyes both taking a pink color of interest. Seeing that everyone was paying attention – though Roman had to be shut up by Cinder making a veiled threat – Naruto took that as his cue to begin.

"Chakra is a life energy that everyone back in my home is able to use. And I mean _life_ in the purest sense," he stressed, making sure they understood. "It's as crucial to us as oxygen and nutrients, and it's made up of two halves that work together; a physical side and a spiritual side. From what I was taught, the physical side comes from our body – from the nerves and muscles to cells – while the spiritual side comes from our mind. Both sides can become stronger through specific training methods; such as exercise for physical and studying for mental. Some people have a higher side than the other, but that doesn't stop them from being able to use chakra."

"So," cut in Emerald with crossed arms, "that copy you made used chakra?"

"Yes. That was a jutsu, a technique that is made through a specific use of chakra. Chakra, from what I've witnessed throughout my life, has a near limitless amount of uses; from controlling the elements," Roman looked interested, "to becoming invisible," Emerald rose a brow, "to increasing physical strength," Mercury perked up, "to creating illusions," Neo smirked, "and even something as cruel as raising the dead."

Cinder's eyes gave a brief glow of interest at this; though she noted the disgust Naruto had on his face, as well as the haunted look in his eyes. "You've faced those risen dead, haven't you?" she asked, earning a solemn nod from the blonde man.

"Yes… It's not something I like to remember, so please just drop it."

"Of course," she assured in a soft tone, mentally smirking. _'For now, Naruto. But don't think I'll forget that little feature.'_

"Alright, so you use this _chakra_ instead of Aura," Roman summed up, air quoting chakra. "What makes it so different?"

Emerald then added, "You mentioned how Aura was like an incomplete chakra. What did you mean by that?"

Naruto nodded at their combined question, not surprised they asked it. "From what Cinder told me, Aura deals with physical concerns such as healing, defense, and stamina. Meanwhile, a person's Semblance relates to their soul; or spirit. So, based on that…"

Seeing as he let it hang, Mercury answered, "Aura acts as the physical half of your chakra while our Semblances make the spiritual half." Naruto nodded once. "Do you think we could combine them together to replicate your chakra?"

Cinder showed the most interest at that question, though she was disappointed at the unsure expression Naruto bore. "I can't say. I don't know how you all personally use your Aura, or even what your Semblances are. Since the Semblance of a person is a representation of _their_ soul, it _might_ be possible for a _few_ people to replicate chakra; but I doubt it. Chakra is something you're born with; and even back home, the creation of artificial chakra was really rare."

 _'Damn,'_ mentally cursed Cinder, annoyed at such a power being out of her reach. She blinked at that thought before smirking. _'Although, perhaps it's not_ fully _out of my reach,'_ she mused while turning to Naruto. "Anything else you could tell us about your chakra?"

"Other than the fact that I can't sense anyone in this city who could use it, or that my own chakra is unique in and of itself?" he asked in an almost deadpanned tone. "No, that's pretty much it. Anything else would be unimportant since none of you can use it."

Mentally though, he was frowning at the strange feeling coming from Cinder. It felt like an incredibly diluted and weak chakra core; one that didn't even truly belong to her. It was almost…

 _'…as if she was a Jinchūriki,'_ he mused, storing that thought away for later.

"That's a shame. I'm curious as to how I'd fare with that kind of power," she mused almost wistfully.

This earned her a frown from Naruto, much to her continued interest. "Power isn't everything," he shot down with a knowing undertone. "Someone with insane power will only be seen as such; never allowed to live in peace because of those who crave that very power for themselves."

She had to give him that one. She herself craved his power, as well as _her_ power. "Well, I believe that's enough talk of different energies for the time being. I need to look over some things for our current and potential operations." Standing up, she started to leave the room, placing her hand on Naruto's shoulder to gently brush her fingers against him. "I look forward to more opportunities to speak with you, Mr. Uzumaki. I find myself more and more interested in what made you into the man you are now."

He didn't look at her as she spoke, instead having an unfocused gaze as memories involuntarily moved to the forefront of his thoughts. She saw this and smirked, enjoying how she could cause an effect on him with her rather simple comments. She was going to enjoy seeing just how much she could influence his thoughts.

After she left, Roman took his leave as well, not even bothering to give the others a form of farewell. He had heists to plan, and he needed men to do it. And every person who walked the underground knew where to get cheap grunts. He chuckled as he made his way to his personal ride in the hotel's garage. _'Wonder how good ol' Junior's doing…'_

Mercury was next to leave. "I need to do some maintenance," he said as he made a face at his legs. "We still have extra oil in stock, right Emerald?"

She rolled her red eyes at him, annoyed at the unnecessary inquiry. "We should have plenty for at least a few days' worth, considering that we restocked just this week," Emerald answered pointedly, earning a look of irritation from the gray haired young man. "You probably also forgot that Mistress had me make sure that I left a spare can next to your tools for you."

Irritated further by how she made him feel like a fool, he left for a different part of the hotel building. He needed something to quell his annoyance.

"Well, I have my own tasks to take care of; so I'll just leave these here for you," Emerald continued, pulling out a large bag from her backpack and setting it in front of Naruto. "If you don't like them, then do your own shopping," she almost snarked, but kept her tone civil. This man was of great interest to her Mistress, after all. "And if you want to have something specific put on them, there's a clothing shop downtown that does personalized stitching for a cost."

Naruto only nodded in thanks, ignoring her rather rude speech since he was still trying to stop his onslaught of memories. He was left alone with the shortest member of Cinder's team, and she was content to just sit on the couch with him in silence. Sure, she wanted to talk to him; but she knew he was too preoccupied with his own thoughts for the moment. Neo was a patient girl, so she could wait for her chance.

After a few moments, the blonde man got his thoughts in order and took note of his remaining company. "…Neo, right?" he asked unsurely, earning a nod in confirmation. "You don't talk much, do you?" A head shake. " _Can_ you talk?" A smirk, which made him sigh. "I'll take that as a yes. Anyway, I'm going to see what my new clothes will look like."

Grabbing the bag, he stood up and made for his room, only to feel a presence following him. Turning around, he looked down to see Neo smirking up at him, both eyes that pink color that he associated with "intrigue" or "interest". From what he had observed, she had three eye colorations, and that meant a total of six different combinations; or "moods" as he liked to believe. And from what he had seen, when both of her eyes were pink, it meant that she was interested in something.

In this case, it seemed to be himself that Neo was interested in.

"You don't plan to follow me all the way to my room, do you?" he asked, earning a vague shrug from her. "Listen…I appreciate you keeping me company, but I need some time alone. I'll…talk to you when I've had enough time. Will that work for you?"

She frowned, both eyes turning to a brown color as she blinked. Still frowning, she held out her left hand and gestured to it with her eyes. Catching her meaning, he sighed again and looped the bag on his crippled arm before shaking her hand, showing that they had struck an "accord".

Satisfied, Neo returned her eyes to their natural brown/pink combination before she walked off. Where she was going was anyone's guess, and the last Uzumaki didn't feel like make _any_ guesses about it. Instead, he headed for his room and closed the door to give himself some much needed privacy. He set the bag down on his bed before pulling out the clothes Emerald had gotten for him on Cinder's orders.

To his curiosity, he saw that the clothes were orange and black and that Emerald had even gotten him some armor-padded sandals like the damaged ones he currently wore. Figuring that she just got him clothes based on the colors of his ruined ones, he chose not to dwell on it anymore and just got dressed. It was difficult with the loss of his dominant hand, but he remedied that by having golden chakra form a crude hand shape to assist him.

He was somewhat relieved that he still held the Six Paths Senjutsu that his Sun Mark had bestowed upon him. This meant that he had incredibly powerful chakra to call upon, as well as his Truth Seeker Orbs. However, he made no plans to use those abilities unless the situation was dire enough for their presence.

Though, helping him get dressed was an exception.

When he finished putting on his new clothes, he had to say that he approved of Emerald's picks. He had on his mesh undershirt as usual, but over it he wore an orange, zip-down sweatshirt that was both comfortable and durable with three black stripes each on his sleeves and waistline. He wore all black pants with the pant legs tucked into his new sandals that were equally black and stopped at his shins. He rolled up the right sleeve so that the end of his arm stub was just barely seen. Coming from a life that thrived on battle and conflict (much to his dismay), he knew that the loose sleeve would be a hindrance to him. (1)

"Not bad," he murmured before sitting on his bed and looking at his ruined clothes that had his Hidden Leaf Headband neatly folded on top of them. He held a look of shame as he stared at the proud symbol of his home; a symbol that he couldn't bear to look at anymore. His failure still weighed heavily on his heart, as well as the anger at Sasuke for finally succeeding in severing the bond that Naruto held with him.

Never before had Naruto felt so betrayed. He had done everything he could to try and help Sasuke stop going down the path of revenge and hatred; but Sasuke denied every attempt and even tried to kill him. And it wasn't just a one-time attempt at murder; it was _several_! The first two (possibly _three_ ) were when they were both still children. The next attempt was when they reunited as young adults at Orochimaru's hideout, and Naruto didn't even try to stop him that time. The next was in the Land of Iron, after Sasuke had made himself a criminal against the Five Kage of the Elemental Nations; right after Naruto had stopped him from trying to _kill_ Sakura!

When they reunited during the war, Naruto truly believed that Sasuke had finally turned around; even though he was upset at the Uchiha claiming to take the position of Hokage. It was thanks to Sasuke – as well as a great hit from Sakura on Kaguya – that the Mother of Chakra was able to be sealed away again. Things were starting to really look up for Naruto.

But, then Sasuke had to ruin it once again by choosing a hatred, vengeful path; one that he claimed would be a "revolution" for the Shinobi World as a whole. Naruto knew he had to stop Sasuke, not just for his incredibly selfish plan; but to save the people who were still trapped within their "perfect" dreams and forced to act as nutrients for the Shinju Tree.

After everything he had done, it had all been spurned and practically spit upon by Sasuke during their final battle. And now, because of Sasuke's foolish desire and hatred, Naruto had been unable to get him to help free the others and was now stuck in an unknown place; forced to become a partner with a woman who held obvious ulterior motives.

Sighing in frustration, he laid on the comforter of his bed, staring at the ceiling as tears formed in his eyes. These tears held regret… They held pain… They held anger… But most of all, they held resentment. This resentment wasn't for Sasuke, however; it was for himself. He resented how he couldn't work the nerve to strike a more crucial blow on Sasuke on multiple occasions. He could have done so in almost all of their fights; but he didn't.

And now…he was paying for that weak nerve…and it was torture on his damaged heart.

* * *

It was a couple of days later that Naruto found himself alone at the hotel building with Mercury. Cinder wanted him to have a sort of "grace period" to get adjusted with his new home before she had him take on any jobs or assignments.

So, Naruto decided to just use the time to think some more about his situation. Mercury had moved his tools into the empty room he was in and was working on something unknown to the Uzumaki; not that he wanted to know anyway.

Cinder had given Mercury orders to keep an eye on Naruto, as well as try to get him talking. He honestly didn't want to, not seeing the point in dealing with the whiskered blonde, but Cinder could be very _persuasive_ when she wanted to be.

Too bad for Merc that her persuasions weren't of the pleasurable sort.

"So…" the silver-haired man began, wondering how he would talk with the guy that only Cinder and (ironically) Neo could get to actually speak, "how are you liking the idea of working with us so far?"

He wanted to scowl when he saw that Naruto had stonewalled him, the newbie's gaze fixed somberly on a uniquely designed trench knife, with the blade made to be worn akin to a brass knuckle. The edge had a sharpened zigzag "tooth" over each knuckle, and a blade coming out of one end. It was something that the others had seen Neo get made for him at one of the many weapon shops of Vale City.

 _'Why the hell is she so interested in this guy? Okay, so the way the Grimm treated him back at Mountain Glenn was weird, and that_ chakra _stuff he used and told us about was admittedly interesting…but what the hell is going on through that girl's head to be doing stuff for this sorry sack?'_ Taking a breath to compose himself once more, he tried again to get the blonde talking. "Hey, listen… I get it; you don't wanna talk," Mercury said, continuing the one-sided conversation. From the forlorn expression the blond wore, his mind was yet again on those that he'd been unable to protect. "You know, you can trust the boss. Cinder helped me get back on my feet," he then pulled up his pants part-way up his thighs, "literally."

Naruto finally removed his gaze from the trench knife in his hand and looked over at Mercury. His brow rose at what he saw; fully functional prosthetic legs that preformed as well as the original biological versions. While it was interesting, it also explained why Mercury always wore pants and why he never took his shoes off; as well as the recurring comments on maintenance, oil, and tools the guy regularly made.

Seeing he had their newest member's attention, Mercury also removed the armor he wore over his arms, exposing what appeared to be oddly-shaped scars on the outer sides and backs of both of his arms. He didn't like showing these or his legs to other people, but it wasn't like this guy wouldn't eventually learn about them since they'd be working together. And considering the blonde's own obvious maiming, it wasn't like he'd be unable to understand why things like this were touchy subjects.

Naruto looked at the state of Mercury's body. _'So…Cinder has helped others like me before, then. I'm not surprised that she goes for the broken and downtrodden, the ones that life spat on…'_

Still, that had earned her a few points in his book, considering that he knew what it was like to need help but not receive any. The woman may have had ulterior motives, but as the saying goes: _Nothing in life is free. Everything has its price._

Naruto nodded at the gray haired, lackadaisical young man that almost reminded him Kakashi-sensei. Cinder had helped put him together again, and she tried giving him the means to maintain some form of a regular life. Mercury might have felt the two of them were somewhat similar, which would help them form _some_ kind of mutual understanding.

His eyes drifted to his own stub, his mind drifting again as he wondered what he was going to do.

"Look," continued Mercury, "I know it's hard when you're at the shittiest end of the stick; but unless you figure out how to pick yourself up and find a way to move forward, things will never change. You'll stay stuck in the same place and rot to death. You can still try doing something with your life, and maybe find a way to reach your goals. But that can't happen unless you choose to do it, right?"

That succeeded in snapping Naruto out of his thoughts and he knew that Mercury wasn't wrong. He still had to get home and make things right. He couldn't afford to rot or stay still.

With that thought once again reestablished in his mind, the Uzumaki looked at Mercury and nodded. "…Thanks," he said simply.

All Mercury did was nod in return before resuming his work. As far as he cared, he got Naruto to speak, so he didn't feel the need to keep up the conversation.

The others found the two in a comfortable silence upon their return, and Cinder gave Mercury a satisfied smirk at that.

* * *

"Come on, kid," Roman tried once again, enjoying how the silent blonde made no attempts to shut him up or push him away. As a man who enjoyed being in the spotlight, he always welcomed an audience; even one who was such a downer. "How about another demonstration, eh? I wanna see what you're capable of!"

"…"

Naruto only gave him a dull look in response. Why should he show his abilities when there wasn't any real point? And besides, _Cinder_ was the one who offered him a spot in this little group; not the man with hair shaded his favorite color.

"You know, I doubt the little lady who thinks she's in charge will know what to use you for if you don't show her a little something," Roman attempted again.

"…"

Okay, now Roman was starting to get irritated. Sure, he could handle a silent audience; but one that blatantly ignored him, _while_ looking right at him?! _That_ was where he drew the line!

So, he moved away from the blonde under the guise of giving up. He even turned around and took a few steps away from the Uzumaki, making it seem like he was heading back up from the practically empty garage beneath the hotel. When he looked back slightly over his shoulder, he saw Naruto heading for the opposite set of stairs and smirked.

Turning around, he raised his cane and had the end pommel flip its cover, showing a targeting crosshair at the end of the barrel of his revealed firearm. "Try ignoring _this_ , Whisker Boy!" he yelled out before attempting to squeeze the trigger.

The key word being _attempting_.

Before he could comprehend what had happened, he found himself off of the ground, pinned to the wall, and a hand around his neck. Shocked, he was about to struggle before he caught sight of dull blue eyes staring at him almost apathetically.

"…Don't try that again."

That simple order was said in such a calm tone that it ironically brought a chill down the older man's spine. He was then unceremoniously dropped to the ground on his ass before his mind rebooted and he saw that Naruto was already at the foot of the stairs…on the other side of the garage _over one hundred feet away_.

Rubbing his neck, he groaned and cracked it to get the kinks out before giving an annoyed huff. "Kids today… Always so melodramatic…"

* * *

Emerald looked at the blond who kept staring dejectedly at the dented-up headband. From the looks of him, the guy had barely slept at all throughout the past few days. She frowned at this since he was only worsening his own condition; which also made his usefulness to Cinder drop by the day.

 _'Geez, this guy is just oozing depression…'_

As much as she disliked cheery and friendly, it would suit the amputee to buck up. She couldn't believe she was thinking this, but she knew that he needed to smile, laugh, and learn to enjoy being able to live a little!

Still though, his need to rebuild a reason to want to live wasn't easy. She knew that from when she had to steal to live before Mistress Cinder recruited her for her useful abilities. She'd lived in a city, day to day without a guarantee of enough food; always resorting to stealing to get by. While she wouldn't _ever_ admit it (and if anyone suggested she did, then she'd put a bullet in them) she empathized with the downtrodden people of Remnant. She couldn't really help it when she remembered the days before her Mistress had come into her life. Thanks to that, she understood a bit where the one-armed newbie was coming from.

And it Pissed. Her. Off!

"You know…you could stare at that thing until you've died, rotted, and your bones have turned to dust. Nothing's gonna change unless you snap out of this damn funk of yours," she snapped at him, only for him to stonewall her. "I know you heard me!" the girl growled angrily.

" _…_ "

Again, he ignored her.

"God! No wonder you had to go groveling to that Sasuke guy to play the hero!" She and the others had been given an explanation for why Naruto was in a funk by Cinder a couple days ago. So she knew what she was about to say would get to him. "If all you're good for is being depressing, then the ones you failed needed someone that could actually rise to the occasion and get the job done; you know that?!"

Emerald felt a tug at the corners of her mouth twitch as his shoulders tensed. Aha! She finally got a reaction out of him. Now to keep pressing on that one sensitive spot until he got too ticked off to stay depressed.

"So you trusted the wrong guy… So what?! Get over it! Were you the one that was stupid enough to make that backstabber a part of having to play the role of savior? How was that your fault?"

He actually turned to glare at her by this point.

"Look…you're in a bad way right now, I get it. But are you just gonna piss and moan while drowning in your useless self-pity or you gonna get off your ass and actually do something, ya damn cripple?!" Emerald demanded.

"…Shut up," he said in a cold tone, one that made her actually have to repress a shiver.

"Not until you get out of this damn pity party you've thrown for yourself!" she fired back, standing over him as he sat on one of the couches.

"You don't know anything," he stated, eyes as chilling as a snowstorm. "Don't go running your mouth about something you don't understand."

She glared at him heatedly at that. "You think I don't understand how it feels to lose someone?!"

"I didn't just _lose_ my loved ones," he cut off, catching her by surprise as he looked back down at his headband. "I failed them when they needed me most... I wasn't strong enough to help them and my weakness was the reason they are gone _…_ "

"You gave up pretty quickly then since you aren't even attempting to try and get back to save them!" she snarked, but immediately regretted it when a dense pressure covered the room they were in.

Hair shadowing his eyes, Naruto gave the greenette no warning when golden flickers of energy sprouted from his arm stub, taking shape and forming a man-sized claw that rushed at Emerald, slamming her into the wall. The force of the impact shook the hotel base and had the others rush into the room to see what was happening. To their surprise, and Cinder's interest, they saw golden aura practically pouring out of the blonde man while his chilling blue eyes bored into Emerald's terrified red ones.

The golden claw closed around the young woman, trapping her before bringing her closer to the Uzumaki while her legs were dragged against the old carpeted floors of the building. Slowly, she got face-to-face with him, and she felt herself similar to an ant staring up at a giant.

"…You don't know when to keep your mouth shut," he almost growled at her. "You think I won't try and get back to them? Why do you think I took Cinder's offer?" Carelessly, the chakra arm tossed her to the side, causing her to grunt at the impact she made with the opposite wall. "Until I know for sure that it's a pointless effort, I won't stop searching for a way back to the people I love. And a word of warning: disrespect my feelings for them again…and you won't be able to even regret it," he declared in a straight tone before he brushed past the others.

While Mercury moved over to the still shell-shocked Emerald, Cinder's eyes glowed with interest as her gaze followed Naruto's retreating form. _'You have some tricks up your sleeve, Mr. Uzumaki,'_ she mused with a smirk. _'More and more…I get to see who you truly are.'_

* * *

"…"

"…"

This was the extent of the current conversation between Naruto and his petite guest. The two were in his room with Neo seated on his bed, legs crossed beneath her frame. He himself was seated in a chair close to his opened window, letting the outside breeze brush coolly against his skin.

In his hand was a book that Cinder had gotten for him during one of her outings. It was a text that dealt with the most updated knowledge on the Creatures of Grimm. From what he had read so far, it was strange to him that the Grimm didn't bother him at all; especially with how depressed and angry he had been for the past week.

He should've been a beacon for them with flashing lights, for goodness sake!

This left him with more questions, and he hoped that he would find them by the book's end. But, he still had company at the present time; company who seemed just fine with sitting silently and smirking at him with her eyes, once again, both being a bright pink.

"Y'know…I'd be willing to answer any questions you might have; provided you, I don't know, _speak_?" he suggested, brow twitching minutely.

Her smirk grew in amusement before she shifted herself so that her legs were out, and one of them crossed over the other. "…Depressed," she said in a rather soft tone.

He blinked in surprise at her _actually_ speaking. Granted, he never doubted that she could, but she was just so damn _quiet_ all the time! Still, he acknowledged what she had said, nodding once.

"Yes, I am. I thought that should've been obvious by this point?" he asked with a raised brow.

Crossing her arms, she frowned as both eyes turned brown. "Recover."

"It's not that simple," he shot down, shaking his head as he set the book down on the windowsill. "I didn't just get sent away from those I loved; I failed to protect them and free them. I can't just _recover_ from something like that; not when it was my weakness that made me fail."

"Get stronger," she pressed, still frowning at him. "Too weak?" she challenged, trying to get a rise out of him.

"I just might be…" he sighed out, body sagging in his seat. "I don't know how to get stronger from this… I've always had my bonds with them to cherish and protect."

"Still do," she assured, standing up from his bed. She walked over to him and grabbed the bottom of his chin gently, raising his gaze to meet hers while both of her eyes were now a milky white. "Not weak. Strong here," she continued, poking his chest with her free hand. She then poked his head and added, "Think too much."

"…"

He looked thoughtful at her words, unsure of what to do. However, it was that thoughtful expression he made that earned him another poke to the forehead.

"Still thinking. Don't."

"But how can I not…?" he challenged, voice showing further confusion. "How can I not think about what I failed to do?"

She crouched a little, just enough for her standing posture to lower her face to his level. "Not your fault," she said softly, placing her hand on his head just like when she and Cinder first met him. She gave it a reassuring pat as her smirk returned. "You can make it right, Naruto."

His blue orbs couldn't look away from her milky ones. It astounded him how this young woman – he by no means could think of her as a girl; a child – could have such an effect on him. From this brief exchange, he found himself starting to regain that spark he had lost. It wasn't a successful spark that would reignite his Will of Fire; but it was a step in the right direction.

He chuckled softly, eyes closed in resignation to her words. "…Thanks, Neo."

Her smirk softened to a faint smile and she nodded. Satisfied with her own efforts, she grabbed her closed parasol from his bed and headed for the exit. She was stopped from opening the door by his voice.

"Neo?" She turned around to see that he was on his feet and had moved closer to her position. He looked to be on the fence about something, which made her raise a brow to urge him on. Taking a quick breath, he held out his sole fist to her.

This time she was confused. A fist bump? Why would he offer something like that to her? Looking back up at him, she saw he was struggling a little to keep his fist extended to her. Was this really such an important thing to him? Curiosity guiding her, she raised her own left fist and had it meet his fist.

As soon as she did, she found herself completely defenseless at what had happened next.

* * *

"You seem to be in higher spirits today, Naruto," noted Cinder as she sat across from the blonde, once again enjoying a warm cup of tea.

Naruto was holding his own cup and paused from taking a drink at her comment. "You really think so?" he asked her, setting the cup down on the coffee table between their respective couches.

"Of course I do. You don't have as much of a depressing air about you anymore. That, and you seem a bit more…relaxed, I suppose would be the proper word. May I ask what caused this progression?"

Shrugging, he gave her an oblivious look. "I wasn't aware I had changed that much."

She smirked in amusement, finding his confusion enjoyable. "Can you think of nothing?" she pressed, crossing one of her legs over the other and leaning forward slightly in her seat.

Scratching his head, he hummed in thought. "Nothing comes to mind. Though, I guess I did have a nice talk with Neo earlier."

That interested her. "Truly? And she _spoke_ to you?"

"As much as a near-mute woman would, at any rate," he elaborated. "But still, I appreciated the talk she gave me. It made me feel a bit better, y'know?"

Mentally noting to question Neo about her talk with the interesting blonde before her, Cinder nodded in understanding. "Well, I'm pleased to see that she helped you make such progress with your depression. I can only hope we'll help you make further progress."

"You're starting to sound like a shrink," he commented, surprising her by the amused look he sported; even if it was rather faint.

"Perhaps, but I'd rather not be something so simple." Her amber eyes bored into his blues, and she smirked once more. "I would rather be a more…inspiring person for you; not just someone to help you heal. Truth be told, Naruto, I find myself continuously growing more interested in you. You have such an enigmatic air about you that I can't help but want to discover what lies within those walls you have."

He looked a tad uncomfortable at the almost predatory gleam in her eyes.

"But," she continued, letting the glow in her eyes die down, "I don't want to pressure you into something that would make you insecure around me. I'm a patient woman, Naruto; I can wait for you to find yourself more comfortable around me." She gave a soft chuckle, one that accentuated her natural beauty. "However, that doesn't mean I won't try to make you more comfortable sooner. Yes, I'm patient; but I'm also someone who knows what they want."

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "And uh… What do you want, Cinder?" he asked, just a bit nervous.

Her eyes glowed briefly once again. "I want us to grow closer," she answered, and he found himself stunned at both the simple answer and her sincerity. "That's all."

He blinked at her answer. It was definitely unexpected, but he couldn't find any deception in her voice. "…Really?" he couldn't help but ask, relaxing a bit in his seat.

She mentally grinned at her small victory. "But of course. After all, something about you just draws me in. It could be your unknown origins," she slowly stood up, "your unique gift against the Grimm," she moved towards him, "your chakra compared to our Aura," she stood next to the arm of his couch, placing her hand on his resting arm, "or perhaps it's just _you_ in general. Either way, I can only hope that we'll progress our current standing further, Naruto. I look forward to seeing just how much we'll…influence each other."

With her piece said, she walked off, making sure to have her fingers glide across his arm as she moved away. Out of sight from his eyes, her smirk grew full force and her eyes gleamed excitedly, nearly lighting up the halls with their glow. She had seen the consideration he tried to hide in his eyes. She just had to keep pressing forward, keep offering him a chance to find new reasons to move on while making sure that they centered around her group; and herself especially.

It was inevitable in her eyes. Soon, the enticing man that she had been lucky to meet would fully join her; standing by her side as her plans came into place. And when that day came…

She shivered excitedly, chuckling to herself. _'Welcome to Remnant, Naruto Uzumaki. I hope you enjoy staying here, because sooner or later…you'll be mine,'_ she mentally promised while Naruto felt a strange shiver go down his spine.

* * *

 **1~ He's in his clothes during his reign as Seventh Hokage in canon (sans the flaming cape he wore)**

 **Damn! That chapter was challenging! It's hard to make a "broken" Naruto have a believable, yet reasonably extended, recovery period; especially when I just want to get through it and get to the good stuff!**

 **What did you guys think of the interactions Naruto had with Cinder's group? Were they up to your standards, or did they seem a bit off? I'd love to get your feedback on this!**

 **Also, I bet you're curious as to what happened when Neo bumped fists with Naruto. Well, you'll just have to be patient, won't ya?! _*smug grin*_**

 **Cinder's also slowly but surely sinking her claws into Naruto's fragile heart. Will she succeed in turning him to her cause, or will he resist her tempting call? Stay tuned to see!**

 **One last thing before I wrap this up: I was hoping that someone would attempt a _Characters Reading Version_ of this story after I get through at least the third or fourth chapter. If no one feels up to it, then I'd be willing to give it a try; provided that I don't get heckled or flamed mercilessly again for being a quote "narcissist". If you're interested, or you feel I should try it for myself, hit me up via PM! I look forward to hearing from you guys!**

 **Until next time!**

 _ **~pain17ification~**_


	3. Chapter 3: Unexpected Closure

**What's up?**

 **So, since I don't have a** _ **Rooster Teeth**_ **account, I was barely able to watch the first two episodes of** _ **RWBY Volume 4**_ **. Still, the wait was WORTH IT!**

 **The series is still beautifully designed and brought to life, the characters are as unique and lively as ever, and the story is continuously gripping! I can't wait to see how this Volume will play out!**

 **On that note, let's move onto the next chapter of this crossover!**

 **Fair warning, this story will have most of the canon events in it, but there will be plenty of changes as well thanks to our favorite Orange Maelstrom. So please, PLEASE don't be upset if some events stray from canon or are even changed entirely.**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **pain17ification**_ **owns nothing from these two incredible series!**

* * *

 _Sackcloth and Ashes_

 _Chapter Three: Unexpected Closure_

* * *

Shielding his face from the whipping wind and kicked up dust, Naruto watched as the bullhead that dropped him off ascended higher and higher. From the ajar side door, Cinder looked down at him and locked eyes with the Uzumaki, giving him a confident smirk that she knew he would be able to see.

After the week of letting him adjust, Cinder had finally come up with an assignment for her newest partner. Seeing as she had been unable to fully search the ruins of Mountain Glenn thanks to being more interested in the blonde, she had decided to make use of his unique immunity to the Grimm to her advantage and have him search through the ruins alone.

As she watched his form get smaller from her rising vantage point, the amber-eyed woman spoke up, "You and Roman know what to do, correct?"

Beside her, Mercury smirked and nodded. "Yeah, we know. While blondie checks out the place, Roman and some of those White Fang members will run distraction detail for those Huntsmen that are supposed to investigate what happened here a week ago."

"Good. Be sure not to be seen, Mercury. Roman is already a well-known criminal, so it isn't much of a risk to have him spotted. You, on the other hand, are _not_ identified; so keep it that way."

"Got it, Boss."

Emerald was on Cinder's other side, frowning as she watched Naruto just stand in place and watch them leave. "You sure he can handle this alone?"

"Mr. Uzumaki has shown himself capable of many unique different feats; including that curious golden arm that caught you by surprise," reminded Cinder, making Emerald clench her fist at the memory. "Also, I find myself…confident in him, regardless of him not showing everything he has at his disposal." She then turned her head behind her, smirking at seeing her mostly silent partner once again staring at her hands with a far-off expression. "Neo," she called out, breaking the tri-color-haired girl from her slight trance. "What do you think of Naruto's chances?"

Neo frowned for a moment, both eyes displaying a brown color before they turned bright pink and she smirked.

"…"

And once again, she said nothing; but her expression spoke for itself. She was in total confidence of Naruto. Her pink orbs saw her leader nod in satisfaction before looking away, allowing Neo to look back down at her hands. In truth, she was still a bit shaken up by what had happened between her and Naruto just the other day.

(Flashback)

 _"Neo?" She turned around to see that he was on his feet and had moved closer to her position. He looked to be on the fence about something, which made her raise a brow to urge him on. Taking a quick breath, he held out his sole fist to her._

 _This time she was confused. A fist bump? Why would he offer something like that to her? Looking back up at him, she saw he was struggling a little to keep his fist extended to her. Was this really such an important thing to him? Curiosity guiding her, she raised her own left fist and had it meet his fist._

 _As soon as she did, she found herself completely defenseless at what had happened next._

 _She found herself in front of a building that had young teenagers and their parents. She herself was under the shade of a single tree, standing next to a familiar, yet younger, whiskered blonde. She saw that he was seated on a swing, staring at the others with a mix of depression, longing, envy, and anger._

 _From some of the parents, she heard mutterings of how they were relieved that he didn't pass some final exam. She also saw looks of disgust, loathing, and even some hatred aimed at the blonde while from his shadow, she was surprised to see it take the shape of a four-pawed animal with pointed ears and multiple tails that waved erratically._

 _"I didn't think that I was still able to do this," she heard a familiar voice comment, and she turned to see the blonde that she had just been speaking with right beside her, looking at his younger self with sad nostalgia. "…I wasn't welcome in the eyes of many of the villagers back home, and it was because of something completely out of my control."_

 _She raised a brow at his vagueness. "What do you mean?" she spoke up, before looking surprised that she did so. "Wait… Why can't I stop talking? What's going on here?"_

 _"Easy," urged Naruto, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We're linking together temporarily since we bumped fists."_

 _"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked, visibly frustrated that she couldn't stay silent. Speaking had become such a foreign thing to her over the years._

 _"Everything, Neo. My chakra has grown more and more potent throughout my life, and I'm able to link my soul with someone else's whenever I bump my fist with theirs; something I learned from someone similar to myself. During this connection, nothing is hidden or silent from the both of us. You're seeing my memories – getting a front row seat of my life – while I can hear you without anything to hold you back. That's why you can't keep anything quiet."_

 _She gave him a hard look, both eyes turning milky white. "Cut the connection; now."_

 _"I will; but I wanted you to see something first," he stated, waving his hand and shifting the scenery to that of the village from the view of the Hokage Mountain. The village itself was under attack, and a massive beast with nine tails was seen causing havoc. "That is Kurama, a Tailed Beast that was sealed into me on the very night I was born."_

 _She watched with some fear at how massive and destructive Kurama was, the blood red eyes gleaming in the firelight of the damaged village. A slight tremble crawled down her spine, and she took an involuntary step back. "W…Why show me this?"_

 _"I feel something from you, Neo…" he confessed, letting the scene keep playing. "Something that I believe is somewhat akin to myself." He looked down at her, and she turned to look back up at him. "You were lonely, weren't you? Filled with a deep pain that you couldn't bottle down entirely and because of something you couldn't control?"_

 _She took another step back, but this time it was away from him. "What are you talking about?"_

 _His eyes portrayed sympathy and understanding; both of which being far more sincere than anyone else had tried to show her. "I was feared and left alone because of Kurama, who only attacked because of someone that was manipulated through their pain and hate. Since the night I was born, I was seen as a reminder of loss, pain, and sadness; not as Naruto Uzumaki."_

 _The scenery changed again, and it showed a young girl in rags with tri-colored hair and mismatching eyes. She was seen hugging herself with a tattered blanket while her power was going rampant. All around her, people backed away in fear of Grimm that stood around her defensively; but both Naruto and Neo knew that the Grimm weren't really there._

 _Neo looked at her younger self, seeing the pain and loneliness in her other's eyes. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't find the strength to turn away; to bury the painful memory so deep that it would never resurface again._

 _"Stop it…" she begged, her voice whispery. "I can't watch anymore… Please…"_

 _Looking at her sadly, Naruto cut off the image and the two found themselves back in his room at the base, their fists no longer connected. "Neo…" he spoke up, but she was still in shock at the memory. "Neo, look at me," he tried again, this time a bit firmer._

 _There was some hesitation, but she turned to him and he saw that she was close to tears. "…why…?" she choked out. "What do you want from me?"_

 _Slowly, he raised his hand up and reached out to her, placing his palm on her head before gently, soothingly brushing his fingers through the strands of her hair and stopping on her cheek beneath her right eye._

 _"…I want nothing from you, Neo. I just thought you'd like to know that you're not as alone as you thought," he answered, his tone showing sincerity. "I also wanted to thank you for helping me start to recover." With his thumb, he brushed the tear that started to roll down. "I want to help you do the same; but only if you'll let me. If you keep helping me, then I'll keep helping you… I promise."_

 _Her eyes, both still being milky white, locked with his blue orbs and she saw absolute sincerity in them. Her cheek felt warm against his hand, her heart echoed in her chest, and her lips slowly curved at the corners into a faint – almost invisible – smile._

 _She raised up her right hand to grasp his left, moving it away from her cheek as her eyes turned pink. "…thank you," she whispered before leaving the room, knowing that she found someone that she could finally start to trust with her real self; with the Neo that she tried so hard to keep buried. As she reached the door, she looked back one last time and gave him her signature smirk before she walked away, letting the door close softly behind her._

(Flashback End)

A faint smile was on her face as she clenched one of her fists. Yes, she had total confidence in Naruto; for more than one reason.

* * *

Walking down the ruined asphalt streets of Mountain Glenn, Naruto took note of the Grimm moving about as if they were in a natural habitat. The Beowolves traveled in groups of two to three, much like natural wolves tended to do in the wild. Creeps, who he had read took on lizard like characteristics, moved on their own, keeping their senses sharp as they moved about the city while he spotted a single Goliath, which looked like an elephant, on the outskirts, moving _away_ from the ruins.

"Odd," he muttered, brushing past a pair of Beowolves as he entered one of the ruined buildings. The Grimm gave soft growls as he passed before they began to tail him, as if they were Naruto's personal guards. The Uzumaki looked around the abandoned building sadly, sympathy showing on his face for the people who had been forced to leave their homes. Turning to the Grimm, he mused aloud, "What made you all do this?"

The Beowolves tilted their heads at his question before they growled once more, as if trying to answer. They then turned and left the building, and Naruto decided to follow them. For a few blocks, the two Grimm just took point, seemingly knowing just where they wanted to lead him to. However, they soon stopped in the middle of a four-way intersection and turned to face the blonde.

Once he was standing right in front of them, he looked around and saw nothing new compared to everything else he had seen. He peered into the buildings from the street, but saw nothing of interest before he turned back to the Grimm, only to see them heading off in separate directions.

"Great," he muttered. "Now what?"

As if the universe wanted to answer him, he felt the ground shift beneath him as soon as he finished that query. Before he could even utter a curse, the intersection caved in beneath him and he fell into a deep cavern underground. From his falling point of view, he saw more ruined buildings and even some tracks that held an inoperable train (due to the extensive visible damage he had seen).

Just before he reached impact with the ground below, he formed a clone beneath him and kicked off of it, landing on top of one of the shorter buildings. Once he was on solid ground, he took a more inspective look at his surroundings. To his curiosity, he saw no Grimm at all; not even a simple Beowolf that proved to be the most common of the masked creatures.

Looking back up to where he fell, he estimated the distance and frowned. "No way am I getting up there in one jump." He looked to the rocky walls of the cavernous city. "I should be able to walk out without any trouble. But, if anything, I'll just use Chakra Mode and fly out." He then moved to the edge of the roof he was on, looking down. "Now, what exactly should I look for in a place like this?"

Deciding not to waste any more time, he leapt down from the roof and landed on the road, his feet making hardly any sound upon impact thanks to his training. His eyes were narrowed slightly, and his body was tense and ready to act if need be. From what he could feel, the place seemed to be abandoned; but he knew that looks could be deceiving.

So, forming a clone, he had it stand still and gather natural energy. It didn't take much time before it dispelled and Naruto felt his chakra harmonize with the energy gathered by his clone. With Sage Mode, his sensory capabilities were enhanced greatly, and he felt the multitude of Grimm above him as they moved throughout the city above.

However, there was a single life force that he was able to sense that was somewhere within the underground city. Turning to one of the larger buildings, he focused his senses on that life force and felt it moving cautiously towards him. He frowned at this, creating another clone to act as a decoy while he followed from a safe distance.

For many tense minutes, Naruto kept a lock on the approaching signature while keeping visual contact with his duplicate. When he felt the signature right on top of his clone, he caught a glimpse of black before his copy was tugged behind a corner. The clone did nothing to retaliate since Naruto wanted to see who was hiding out in a place like this.

When he moved to a better position, he was slightly surprised to see a masked woman with black hair that reached her backside and skittered downward like some ruffled feathers. She was dressed in a shallow cut black dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads around her neck, a red girdle-belt around her abdomen, and a pair of matching gauntlets. An object that looked to be made from feathers hung from the right side of her skirt and her black, thigh-length boots looked to be styled with a red splatter pattern. Her most distinctive feature was a fearsome, full-face mask that resembled the face of a Creature of Grimm. The mask had four eye slits, further enhancing the inhuman presence that the woman appeared to be going for.

 _'There's some red mixed into her hair,'_ he absently noted, finding the highlight an enhancement to the woman's appeal. A part of him blamed his father for it, but he felt drawn to hair that held some semblance of red in it. His eyes also took note that her red sword was of the ōdachi – or great sword – class and was twice the length of her sheath. Said sheath also held a rotary chamber filled with various colors. _'That's those "Dust Crystal" things that Cinder told me about…'_

"Talk," ordered the woman, holding her blade to his clone's throat. "What is a civilian doing here?"

To her surprise, the young man she had gotten the drop on disappeared in a burst of smoke. She bit back a curse as she held her blade close, ready to act in an instant like she had trained many years to do.

So, when she felt someone behind her, she immediately reacted and turned with a deadly swing of her blade. But the blade was easily caught within the serrated edge of a knuckle duster that was wielded by the same blonde that she thought she had. His eyes were no longer the strange yellow that she had noted before and were instead a crystalline blue, like the ocean. The only other features she found noteworthy about him were the whisker markings on his cheeks and the fact that he only had one full arm while the other was missing from the elbow down.

"Relax," he said, easily holding back her blade with his smaller weapon that Neo had given him. "I'm not here to start anything."

"What's a Faunus doing here?" she shot back, her voice calm and steady. "Is the White Fang looking for more places to inhabit?"

"Faunus?" Naruto asked back, showing genuine confusion. "Sorry lady, but I don't know what you're talking about. I've never heard of Faunus or this White Fang. The only White Fang I know of is the late father of my sensei."

 _'Sensei? That means teacher, if I recall. He uses terms from an older language so easily, like he's spoken with them his entire life.'_ Her blood red eyes narrowed behind her mask. _'He also doesn't look like he has any idea what I'm talking about. Where the hell has this fool been staying; under a rock?'_

"Look, can we please just put away our weapons and talk like reasonable people?" he suggested. "I didn't want to pick any fights here; especially when I know that Grimm aren't the only things living in this place."

"How do you know of this place?" she ordered, not making any moves to back down. "Who sent you here?"

He sighed at her questions. "You really won't just calm down, will you? Are you just itching for a fight or something?"

In truth, the woman actually was feeling a bit restless as of late. While she could've hunted down Grimm, it got rather bothersome really quickly; especially with how predictable they could be sometimes. On the other hand, fighting someone else; no matter if they were a human or a Faunus? Now _that_ was far more enticing.

"Maybe I am," she replied with a hidden smirk before sliding the edge of her sword through the crevice it was held back in, freeing it for her to quickly move in for a deadly swing. She wasn't even surprised when she saw him evade it by bending his body backward just enough for her weapon to move over him safely. "Care to indulge me, kid?" she taunted, feeling a tingle go down her spine at the potential fight.

Sighing again, Naruto said nothing and instead just put away his weapon. "I'd rather not," he answered after his knife was fully sheathed.

This ended up being the wrong response, because the masked woman took it as an insult and charged, her sword blazing with Fire Dust mid-swing as she closed in on the damnable blonde. With a flurry of slashes, she attempted to make him answer for the blow to her pride; a smirk forming beneath her mask as she saw him redraw his knife to catch her blade and deflect it away from himself.

Following a wider than intended swing, that the Uzumaki dodged by leaning back, the woman moved with her momentum and went for a spinning kick that was blocked by the blonde's forearm. She gasped when something flashed through her head upon contact.

* * *

 _"You'll still believe in what Jiraiya-sensei spoke of? After all that has happened? After so much death? After everything I've done to you?" a redheaded man who looked incredibly emaciated asked of a whiskered blonde teen. His face shifted from incredulity to rage. "Do you expect us to wait for you to bring peace when there is so much pain?! Face it; peace is impossible!"_

 _"Then, if there's such a thing as peace, I'll find it! I'll break the cycle of hatred and pain by carrying it for everyone else! I'll help people so that they won't have to feel pain anymore!" Raising his fist up to face the redhead, the blonde declared, "I'll never give up, and I won't go back on my word!"_

 _Purple eyes with ringed pupils widened at that, recognition and shock shining in them. Beside him, a blue haired woman with a paper flower in her hair looked just as surprised. The whole time, the blonde held a look of unbreakable, unwavering determination and the aura of a leader radiated from him._

* * *

 _'What was that?'_ she thought in confusion before refocusing on the fight.

Unknown to her, Naruto had seen something as well. And what he saw marred his face with a frown.

* * *

 _The woman glared at a blonde dressed in light armor. "Think about it, Taiyang! If they lash out at anything negative, then why do they go after humans unless humans are actually inherently evil?!"_

 _Taiyang let out an aggravated sigh. Things had just kept going downhill ever since Summer had died. Since then, Raven had come to accept a belief that humans were detestable things of war, segregation, hatred, and death; preaching that they were civil, yet slaughtered anything – even one another – for the slightest reason._

 _He didn't like such a cold, cynical, nihilistic, and misanthropic worldview, but Raven insisted that, other than what the setting, clothing, and level of technology was, human nature had not really changed from when they were violence-addicted savages living in caves. As far as Raven viewed things, the Grimm were basically White Blood Cells trying to purge an illness from a body._

 _The world, Remnant, being the body, and humanity being the illness._

 _"Raven…you're being unreasonable…" Taiyang said in response._

 _"Unreasonable?!" Raven snapped, furious at what he had just said. "Why; because I'm not stupidly, blindly giving undeserved faith to humanity?! With humans, and even Faunus, it's always the same shit but a different era! They constantly repeat the same self-destructive patterns over and over! They've only lasted this long because vermin are so damn hard to get rid of!"_

 _"You're talking like you're not human yourself…" he pointed out with a frown._

 _"Believe me, I wish that I wasn't…" she fired back, turning away from him._

 _"Are you even listening to yourself?! Raven…is this really the kind of example you want yourself to set for our daughter?" Taiyang asked._

 _That was the wrong thing to say, and he knew it as soon as he left his lips. In the time it took for him to even blink, the end of her sword's scabbard was buried in his gut before he was flipped over and slammed onto the ground. The next thing he knew after the unexpected attack was the tip of Raven's unsheathed ōdachi hovering ominously over his throat._

 _Glaring down at the man before her, Raven hesitated before she shook her head in disgust. "You're so naïve to everything that it's revolting… So much that it's not even worth putting you out of your misery…" she stated, clicking her teeth in annoyance before sheathing her sword and turning as a red-black portal opened up in front of her._

 _With nothing left to say to him, she entered it and never looked back._

* * *

 _'Damn,'_ he mentally cursed. _'It's not just when I bump fists with people,'_ he deduced, forcing his body to evade more than guard. _'I can still link my soul with others when in combat!'_

"Stop dodging and _fight_ , dammit!" roared the woman as she began using Wind Dust to extend the reach of her longsword even further. "RAGH!" she cried, bringing her sword down for a bisecting slash.

Her eyes widened behind her mask when she saw him easily catch her weapon again with his; but his knife's edge also had an extended wind blade. The surprising part about it was that it was there without any use of Dust.

 _'Is that his Semblance?'_ she thought before wincing when another vision forced itself into her mind.

* * *

 _"There are three words I say to people who compliment my hair," a stunning redheaded woman said softly to the whiskered blonde, a loving smile gracing her face as her long tresses curled around her. The space around them looked to be bathed with warm golden light, as if it were a dreamscape safe from the harshness of reality._

 _"Oh yeah?" asked the teen, a grin on his face. "And what's that, mom?"_

 _Her smile grew more loving, if that was even possible, as she stated, "I love you."_

 _His grin fell for a look of shock before it returned with a vengeance while he rubbed his head bashfully._

 _"So, what do you get when a child is born from the Yellow Flash and the Red Habanero?" she asked with a grin that matched – or most likely sired – his own._

 _Standing up proudly, he held onto his orange and black jacket and stretched it outwards slightly. "You get the Leaf's Orange Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki!" he declared with pride._

 _The teen's mother gave a content laugh at that, making the whole scene all the more heartwarming._

* * *

 _'W…What the hell is this?'_ she thought in frustration as she stumbled back, her mind starting to have trouble keeping pace with her body.

* * *

 _" Prepare to fire," The Atlas robots said, taking aim at a group of Faunus who were members of the pacifist White Fang, those who wanted rights and equality for their kind. After all, it wasn't their faults they had animal features, so why were they denied being treated the same as others?_

 _Yet here they were, lined up in front of a firing squad of unfeeling automatons, going to be put to death because they had a protest rally outside of Atlas's capital, wanting to know why they weren't allowed their freedom and rights._

 _The sight sickened Raven to her core and she looked to her partner and best friend. Said partner was a young woman dressed in a white hooded cloak that covered a red-black corset and a skirt. She had silver eyes, a pale complexion, and black and red hair. A double-bladed polearm – one that Raven personally knew could convert to a sniper rifle – was slung across her back._

 _"Summer…" she started to say, but her partner cut her off._

 _"You don't need to say a word…" Summer's silver eyes narrowed and her fingers were twitching dangerously. Raven saw that it was taking all her friend's self-control and training as a Huntress to keep from whipping out Lunar Flora, her weapon, and going on a berserker rampage. Raven felt the same urge to do so with her own weapon; especially seeing as their old friend Plissé Scarlatina was in the firing line. (1)_

 _"You go high, I go low," Raven suggested, and Summer nodded in agreement. Creeping away from their cover, the two moved into position. They had to be very careful with this._

 _As Raven got as close as she could without being detected, she caught sight of a quick gleam from above in the very edge of her peripheral vision. 'Good,' she thought to herself. 'Summer's in place.'_

 _And just in time, too._

 _" Readying armor-piercing, explosive rounds," the lead Atlesian Knight said._

 _"NOW!" Raven cried, drawing her blade as it flicked through Dust attributes – Wind, Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Gravity. Switching to the last one, she stabbed her blade into the ground, where a gravity well was formed and produced a heavy pressure into the area, sending everyone to their hands and knees before a shot rang out and the head of the commander robot was blown off, leaving the rest of Atlesian Knight Robots suddenly without a lead unit._

 _As Raven undid the gravity well she created, she rushed forward, her blade flashing as she cut through metal and circuitry while a familiar polearm was thrown from on high and impaled another Knight before Summer dropped down and retrieved her weapon, tearing the robot apart by doing so. Her silver eyes flashed for a moment as the two Huntresses proceeded to make short work of the Atlas automatons before Summer turned to the group of gob-smacked Faunus._

 _"Don't just lie there; RUN!" she bellowed._

 _The Faunus didn't need to be told twice and they all bolted. Summer and Raven hurried along with them, knowing reinforcements would be arriving soon._

 _After "borrowing" a Bullhead, the group crossed the border and flew all the way to, what they were told by Plissé, the "Faunus safe haven" of Vacuo, seeing as the only "real" rule there was that those who were able to survive in Vacuo were welcome; regardless of background._

 _"Thank you both for helping us," Plissé said as the Faunus disembarked._

 _One of the others looked at her in shock. "What?! You're thanking them?! They're humans! I bet that they're just like the ones that were gonna have those damned tin men kill us all!"_

 _"So what if I am thanking them?!" fired back Plissé. "Same race, different individuals! Just because these two are human doesn't mean anything! They chose to help us because they wanted to do what was right! If you're gonna be a racist bigot and turn on our rescuers because of things they can't help, then it seems to me you and the ones that ordered to have us all shot have more in common than you think! Because of them, I have a real chance of going back home and letting my daughter be born!"_

 _The Faunus didn't seem to care about that as he yelled, "Shut it, human-lover!"_

 _"So you hate the ones who we owe our lives to?! Just like that?" another Faunus snapped incredulously, taking Plissé's side._

 _Before long the Faunus were all shouting, some angry towards humans, while others were upset with their fellows who were treating Summer and Raven with hostility. Both human women watched on in disappointment, seeing the hatred that had only grown stronger over the years in the eyes of many of them._

 _Turning to her friend, Raven knew that Summer wanted to change things. Raven wanted to as well, but she knew that such an idea would take a very long time to make a reality._

 _She doubted anyone had the patience, or even the skills, to see it through to the end._

* * *

 _'Goddammit… Just what the hell is wrong with this place?'_ Naruto thought, seeing a rather darker part of the life that this woman – who he now knew was named Raven Branwen – lived through.

"Whatever the hell you're doing, Naruto Uzumaki…" began Raven, using the name she learned from the visions as she clashed with him again, cringing at yet another vision.

* * *

 _"Let's go, guys!" roared the Uzumaki, bathed in golden energy as he held out his right hand towards a regal woman with long white hair, three eyes, and horns on her head. On the palm of said hand was a white sun marking._

 _On the other side of her, a black haired teen stretched out his left hand which held a black moon marking on it. His mismatching eyes were narrowed as both he and the golden blonde closed in on the woman._

 _Said woman, tried to evade by flying upwards, but she was caught off guard when a pinkette young woman descended from above her, fist emblazoned with blue aura as it bashed the regal woman on the head. The force of the blow pushed her back down, just in time for both young men to place their marked palms on her body._

 _As one, they both roared, "_ _Six Paths: Planetary Devastation_ _!"_

 _The next thing Raven saw was the woman being encased in a large sphere that rose upwards and became the newest moon._

* * *

"…make it stop!" she finished, growing more furious at being unable to understand the situation. _'Who the hell are you?!'_ she raged inside her head.

* * *

 _Raven trailed behind her white cloaked friend from a safe, undetectable distance. When she had heard about Summer's latest assignment from her network, she immediately made plans to watch over the mission personally._

 _Was it paranoia? Perhaps, but there was something about these guys that just rubbed her the wrong way, and as a Huntress, she'd honed her danger-perception instincts to an insane degree. Besides, Summer was her best friend; hell, they were practically family to one another. It was Raven's duty to look out for Summer, as far as the bird themed woman was concerned._

 _More importantly, Summer had a family waiting back home for her. She needed to go back to them; even if it was with the man Raven had called naïve and left with her daughter._

 _Team DOPE (David, Oswald, Patrick and Edger) was who Summer was working with, and needless to say, there was something about them that rubbed Raven the wrong way. Hence why she was trailing her friend._

 _The mission was simple; get in, extinguish the Grimm inside of the mines, and get out. Easy on paper; but Raven knew better than to not expect trouble, even on simple assignments. She was a firm believer of "if something bad can happen, there's a good chance that it WILL happen"._

 _Part of her wanted to go back in time and slap the shit out of the founder of such a belief. Murphy, she believed his name was…_

 _Shaking her head to clear her drifting thoughts, she refocused on keeping an eye on Summer and the three members of Team DOPE that were with her. David, Patrick, and Edgar were with her while Oswald was told to hang back; due to being the team's sharpshooter with his sniper rifle._

 _That was the biggest red flag in Raven's mind. Summer was damn hawkeyed with her own sniper; so she should've been allowed to hang back as well. So, why was she being put on the frontline?_

 _Frowning, Raven turned to the small black bird of the same name on her shoulder. With a nod of her head in Summer's direction, she gave the avian its order and the bird took off. Like Qrow, Raven always had a distinct connection with the black carrion birds, and she liked to use them as scouts, spies, or even foragers when she was out in the wilds._

 _With her partner tailing Summer, Raven moved over to Oswald's position; having overheard it when she set her radio frequency to the one Team DOPE and Summer were using. Standing at the base of the tree he was stationed in, Raven scowled as she looked up and easily spotted him, even though the snow-covered branches mostly hid him from sight._

 _With deathly quiet movement, Raven moved up to another tree that was behind his sight range and pulled out a scope, looking downhill at the entrance of the mine. She saw her avian friend even through the cover of night, and a frown marred her face as she saw that Summer was taking the lead into the mines._

 _"What are you doing, Summer?" she asked herself, whispering so that her voice wouldn't carry._

 _Through the scope, she saw the members of Team DOPE that were with her followed her friend inside; but they immediately came out not even a minute later. The sound of a crow cawing frantically made her eyes widen and she made to kick off of the tree she was in._

 _"SUMMER…!"_

 _Her cry of worry echoed across the moonlit hillside, accompanied by a round from a sniper rifle being fired at the entrance of the mines…_

 _…where an explosive had been set to collapse the whole damn thing in on itself._

* * *

"By the kami," muttered Naruto, seeing yet another dark part of Raven's life. He locked eyes with the slits of her mask, showing an understanding of the pain she was holding within herself. "How could you keep going after that; after losing your friend?"

She recoiled at that, shock filling her to the core. _'He didn't… Not THAT!'_ Rage filled her to the core, and the red that highlighted her hair began to bleed into the black, changing it from an ebon black to a bloody red (2). "GET OUT OF MY HEAD, YOU BASTARD!" she roared, ignoring all of her disciplines and attacking on sheer instinct.

Naruto kept looking at her with sympathy as he refused to retaliate and chose to only dodge or block; most of the choices being the former option. With every clash, he knew she was seeing more and more of his life; just as he was seeing more and more of hers.

He saw the birth of her daughter, Yang…

Her reluctance to leave Yang with a man she felt was "naïve" to the true nature of the world…

Her psychological state becoming more and more jaded as time passed…

Her guilt at not being able to save her best friend…

Her vow to her dead friend to keep both of their daughters safe…

He didn't know what she had seen from his life, but he was easily able to tell that she was becoming greatly affected by it. Her mind was warring with itself at the glimpses she was seeing, and he knew he had to put an end to this before it got to the point beyond fixing.

So, when she went for another killing blow, he tossed his knife and had it stab into a nearby building wall while his now free hand reached out. With barely a grunt at the blade cutting into his skin, he caught the red sword and held it tightly while his blue eyes locked with the red orbs he saw through the slits of her mask.

"Enough," he declared sternly, actively creating a link with her as both of their visions went blank for a moment.

When her eyes adjusted to the strange sensation she was forced to endure, they widened when they saw that she was no longer in the underground city beneath Mountain Glenn. Instead, she found herself standing in knee-deep water that made up a river that flowed from a raging waterfall. On either side of the waterfall was a statue of a different person facing the other; but the statues themselves were ruined from the knees down, showing different legs and similarly sandaled feet.

At the base of the waterfall were different chunks of rubble from the mountainside and the statues themselves. She turned behind her when she heard deep, heavy breaths, seeing the same blonde man from earlier; but he was heavily damaged and seemed…different from the one she was just fighting a moment ago.

She narrowed her eyes at the fully formed right arm that the one she faced _definitely_ didn't have. His blue eyes – one of them heavily swollen from a previous injury – were glaring at something on the waterfall, so she turned back and looked upwards. As she did, she saw the person the blonde was glaring at and saw that his left hand was sparking with dark lightning.

 _"It's time, Naruto,"_ the black-haired young man declared in a tired voice. _"I won't have my revolution be stopped here; not by you."_ His strangely designed eyes glared hatefully at the whiskered blonde as he roared, _"Just let me cut you down!"_ before leaping off of the waterfall, diving at his foe with his lightning encased hand spearheading his descent.

She looked back to the damaged Naruto, seeing golden energy begin swirling in his right hand slowly before furiously picking up speed and growing in both size and power. _"You can't cut your bond with me, Sasuke…"_ she heard him say softly, more to himself than to that Sasuke kid. The force of his technique picked up the wind and water around him as he gave a powerful leap, meeting his opponent's charge with his own.

As they got closer and closer, she saw the clashing energy wisps lash out at one another before the two combatants even reached each other. Her red orbs narrowed when the space around each impact seemed to distort and rip away at… _something_. These rips surrounded both men, and their inevitable impact only linked them together into a more jagged rip in what she could only describe as space-time.

Looking to them both with narrowed eyes, she saw that Naruto was the first to notice the rip. With a determination in his eyes that she had only ever seen in her brother Qrow, Raven watched as the blonde forced more power into his technique so that he could direct Sasuke away from the rip. When the techniques were forced to end, both of them shot away with a vicious recoil and Naruto wound up flying into the temporal rip; his right arm having been blown apart from the elbow down while Sasuke was in a similar state with his left one.

Just before the rip closed, she saw sadness in the blue orbs of the whiskered young man. A part of her felt respect for him, as well as sympathy for his sacrifice. As for Sasuke… Actually, the vision paused at that point and the world around her turned grayscale, losing all color and vibrancy.

"That was the last thing I remember before I woke up in a crater in that ruined city above ground," she heard a familiar voice inform her, and she turned around to see the Naruto she had been fighting before; missing arm and all. "As you can see, I'm not exactly a… _natural-born_ citizen of Remnant. At least, I don't think I am. Space-time theories weren't something I ever touched on in terms of study."

"Why show me this?" she immediately questioned as her red hair returned to its natural color, hoping to get straight to the point of the matter.

"I wanted you to see that our souls were linking as we fought. You and I were seeing glimpses of the other's life, and I saw how much my life was affecting you during the fight. You were getting more and more aggravated while losing your composure." He looked down in guilt as he added, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry if you felt…invaded with what I saw. And I'm sorry that you had to live through so much pain."

"Save it," she cut off, her tone gaining an edge to it. "I don't need your pity."

"It's not pity; it's understanding." His only hand rested against his chest as he continued, "I've always noticed that I was able to understand the pain of others; considering how I lived a painful life myself." Lowering his hand and cutting the connection he had made, he kept talking, "I never intended to see parts of your life, Raven… I'm sorry."

She had her arms crossed as she stood across from him, her masked eyes locking with his apologetic ones. After a moment, she sighed and reached a hand up to her mask, grabbing it a certain way so that the back of it folded in on itself enough for her to remove it from her head. Once it was off, Naruto got his first real look at her; and he was amazed at her beauty.

Pale complexion that seemed natural on her, red eyes as deep as crimson, and a face that belied her age. In his opinion, she looked like she was just a bit older than his age of seventeen instead of her obviously older age. Her hair framed her face perfectly, and the fringe that fell between her brows was just the cherry on top, in his opinion.

In short, Raven Branwen was a looker.

Leaning on her leg with her hand on her hip, she asked, "What do you want in Mountain Glenn, Uzumaki?"

He gave a small chuckle and asked back, "Finally letting me talk, are you?"

"I could always pick up where we left off?" she suggested as her brows furrowed, making him raise his hand up in surrender while his chuckle became awkward in nature.

"No need for that," he pleaded before turning serious. "To answer your question, I've partnered up with someone and they're interested in this place for some reason. So, they sent me here on my own since the Grimm seem to ignore me."

"Ignore you?" she cut in, eyes narrowed at the unheard of _ability_. "Impossible. Grimm are attracted to negativity, and you have that in spades with the life you've led."

"I'm surprised by it too," he admitted. "My only guess is that they don't understand what I am, seeing as I'm not from Remnant. Since I haven't done anything to provoke them, they're giving me a _benefit of the doubt_ kind of space, I guess."

Her expression became deadpan as she commented, "That sounds completely ridiculous…" She then sighed and crossed her arms beneath her generous bust. "But…I can't think of anything better than that. At least you're not causing any unnecessary problems by attacking them for no reason. There's a _reason_ why the Grimm are so hostile and numerous, after all."

"How do you figure?" he asked in intrigue.

"Think about it," she began, a frown marring her beautiful face. "Why do you think the Grimm exist?"

"It feels like it's nature retaliating against mankind," he answered, giving his personal opinion.

"More or less," she agreed. "Grimm are made up of darkness, and they're attracted to more darkness such as the hatred of mankind. They're relentless in their pursuit of it, which is why their number only grow larger as time passes."

"And with how people can be deep down…" began Naruto, sighing in disappointment.

She nodded. "They will never fully rid themselves of the Grimm. There's too much negativity lingering around the Kingdoms; no matter how much they preach about how _peaceful_ they are."

"Dammit…" groaned out the blonde, leaning back against a building wall. "Is there anything we can do to try and stop this?"

"Not unless you can convince people to stop hating, fearing, or hurting one another. And with groups like this newer White Fang, the countless gangs throughout the Kingdoms, and those that work behind the scenes…" She gave a hollow chuckle, shaking her head and unknowingly drawing Naruto's attention to her hair before he caught himself. "It's impossible; a fool's goal."

Naruto frowned thoughtfully at that. "…I'm a fool," he noted, his tone slightly suggestive.

She raised a brow. "What? You think you can change this world? Newsflash, Uzumaki; it's a wasted effort. There's nothing you can do, so just give up any ideas of trying."

To her surprise, he started to chuckle softly before it erupted into laughter. It was such a shocking thing that she actually took a step back on instinct. "I can't believe how similar this whole clusterfuck is compared to the Elemental Nations! A cycle of unending hatred, people constantly at war with one another, even if they don't show it, and all of it seemingly pointless to try and fix!" He gave another bout of laugher, holding his side and sliding down onto his backside as some tears formed in the corners of her eyes. "It's almost like I never left home!"

Raven found herself slightly concerned about the mental state of the man literally laughing himself to tears on the ground. A part of her wanted to just walk away and never look back, but the larger part rooted her feet in place; forcing her to stay until he was done. Rationality took over, and she began to realize that his tears were a sign that he was truly starting to come to grips with his situation.

He had been forced away from the life he knew, and the place he found himself in was starting to show itself as a near copy of what he had fought through; of what he had endured his entire life. It was understandable, in her eyes, for him to be a bit off kilter.

Based on what she had seen, Raven was impressed with how much Naruto had accomplished. He had fought against hatred itself in his world, proving himself to be stronger than it on multiple occasions and opening his heart to those who had suffered. Friends, strangers, and even enemies found themselves rallying to him, standing at his side and looking to a brighter future; a radiant dawn.

A faint smirk made its way to her face as she watched him finally start to calm down. _'You're an interesting one, Naruto Uzumaki…'_

From his seated position, the blonde looked up to the sky through the hole he had made, watching the colors change from late afternoon to early evening; the orange and reds giving way to violets and blues. "…I'm not going to find a way back home, am I?" he asked aloud, almost rhetorically as his face set into a bitter smile.

Moving over to him, Raven lowered herself down so that she was seated next to him. Her mask was rested beside her as she too looked up to the sky. "Sorry, Uzumaki. I don't think it's in the cards for you; even if you have the Devil's Luck."

"Damn," he said simply in response, though his tone held no malice in it whatsoever. Instead, it held reluctant acceptance. "I had so much that I still wanted to do back home… I wanted to become Hokage… I wanted to talk with Hinata about her confession to me..." That got an interested look from the woman beside him. "I wanted to try and have a family to pass on what I've learned…"

Raven moved her head in a so-so manner as she cut in, "That last one is still available to you. The way I see it, you have an opportunity that few people ever have presented to them."

"Oh yeah?" he asked with a raised brow. "And that is…?"

"A second chance; a new start," she answered, turning so that she looked him in the eye. "I'm honestly envious of you, Uzumaki. I would do almost anything to have another chance; but I've been tainted too much in my life."

He frowned at her, surprising the woman as he did so. "You're not tainted, Raven. You've just experienced too much pain to see the good in others."

"Whatever _goodness_ that's in people usually comes with some ulterior motive," she fired back, frowning back at him. "The only reason you're different is because you're not from here."

"That's not true. What about Summer?"

"You would use her against me?" Her hair flickered red for a moment.

"If it helps you see how much pain has blinded you, then yes," he answered firmly. "Summer reminds me of myself; wanting to do everything we can to help others. We don't do it for ourselves or for any kind of fame. We do it because we know it's the right thing to do; because it's what our hearts tell us is right."

To his surprise, Raven gave a melancholy smile as she shook her head. "You sound just like her… She always talked about doing what _felt right_ ; especially when it came to helping others." A soft chuckle escaped her lips, along with a tear that rolled down her cheek. "She would've loved to meet you…and so would her kid. That girl is as reckless as her mother; but is also just as morally influenced."

Naruto chuckled as well, giving a small smile. "Sounds like my kind of person."

"She's naïve though; and I'm worried for her, if I was honest with myself. One of these days, she's going to see firsthand just how cruel the world can be. When that comes, she'll either break or she'll be like you; strive to get stronger to fix it."

He nodded in understanding. "Maybe I'll see her for myself one of these days. I'd like to see what makes her so special."

"I'm sure you will," Raven commented with certainty. "Keep a lookout for anything concerning a girl in a red hood and a big scythe. That's Summer's kid."

"Will do," assured the Uzumaki as he stood up, offering his arm to help Raven do the same. She gave him a nod in thanks for the gesture as he took a step back from her. "Don't give up on Remnant, Raven. There are people out there who are trying to help it heal."

"Like you?" she asked with a teasing smirk, which earned her an unsure shrug from the one-armed blonde.

"Maybe. But I'm definitely going to do things differently this time. I took on too much alone, and I paid for it when I depended on Sasuke. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to need to make sure that plenty of people are prepared."

"And what about those who try to stop you?" she asked, knowing the question needed to be brought up. "Will you try to talk them over like in your world?"

"At first, yes. But, if they refuse to see the pain they're causing, then I'll make them see it; even if I have to use a firm hand when doing so."

She smirked and nodded in acceptance. "Good to hear. I'll keep in touch with you, Naruto," she said, surprising him with the use of his first name before she swung her sword, creating a strange red and black wormhole beside her. "See ya."

With that, she stepped into her personal wormhole and disappeared, leaving Naruto alone in the underground ruined city. Smirking in response, he muttered, "See ya around, Raven," before he made way back to the surface.

* * *

"So, there was _nothing_ worth mentioning there?" questioned Cinder as she sat across from Naruto on the bullhead. She and the others had just picked him up not too long ago and were on their way back to Vale.

"Other than the underground extension of the city that looked to have, at one time, a working rail line? Not really," he answered with a shrug. "Just a bunch of Grimm; though there was a Goliath class Grimm moving away from the city. Probably went off to find others."

"I see…" she said thoughtfully. "I'm curious about something though."

"What's on your mind?"

"You seem a bit less…burdened after this venture; like a weight has been lifted. I'm wondering what might've caused your positive change."

Internally, he frowned at what he should say. He wanted to respect Raven's privacy and keep her whereabouts, even if she wasn't staying in the ruins anymore, anonymous. It was the least he could do for helping him find some closure.

So, he answered, "I took some time to vent. Some of the more ruined buildings were brought down in the process, but I think I'm finally coming to grips with my situation. I doubt there's going to be any working method for me to get back home; so, I'm choosing to make the most of my situation. This could be a second chance for me, and I want to make the most of it."

"Is that right?" she asked, giving a pleased smirk. "Well, I must say that I'm glad you've found some sort of closure. I hope this will make things easier for you in the future. And I _do_ hope that we'll continue this little partnership of ours? I'd hate to watch you leave after becoming so curious about you." Her smirk grew as she added, "Not to mention that you've left a lasting impression on Neo. It'd be disheartening to see her lose such a connection to someone."

He saw what she was doing, and it made him chuckle. "No need to guilt me, Cinder. I'm not going to just walk away from you guys after you've been so helpful and supportive." Leaning back and grinning, he asked, "So, what's the next step?"

"I'm glad to hear that, Naruto; and the next step is actually rather simple," she began, her smirk still in place. "While I leave Roman and Mercury in charge of things for the time being, you, myself, Emerald, and Neo will be attending the school here. Beacon is famous for producing able-bodied Huntsmen and Huntresses, and we need to find some people who can rally to our cause."

"And that cause is…?" he pressed, pushing down a groan at the idea of school. He wasn't a fan during his years at the Academy; something _many_ people back home could attest to.

Her eyes glowed for a moment as she gave a single-worded answer.

"Change."

* * *

 **1~ Plissé is a type of fabric, just like Velvet. In case you haven't connected the dots…**

 **2~ I wanted Raven and Yang to have similar changes during the usage of their Semblances. Yang's hair flickers like golden fire while Raven's changes to crimson flaming locks.**

 **And there it is; the third installment of this story!**

 **The pairing is three women, and they will be Cinder Falls, Neopolitan, and Raven Branwen! This is the final pairing for Naruto, so no suggestions for changes and/or additions!**

 **Three more things I want to say before I go!**

 **Firstly, I'm giving a big, BIG shoutout to my awesome friend Dylan Millwood for helping me get this update together! Thanks a lot bro! You are awesome!**

 **Secondly, I'm still wondering if anyone is interested in doing a "Characters Reading" version of this story. If anyone's interested, give me a holler! If no one offers by Christmas, then I'll figure something out!**

 **Lastly, keep a lookout for a Naruto and Bleach crossover that will have Naruto with Orihime in it! I won't lie, it'll most likely be a small harem story (three girls MAX); but Hime-chan will be the main girl! I plan to post it as my Christmas present to you all! ^_^**

 **Until next time!**

 _ **~pain17ification~**_


	4. Chapter 4: First Impressions

**HAPPY 2017!**

 **Chapter Four coming at y'all!**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **pain17ification**_ **owns nothing**

* * *

 _Sackcloth and Ashes_

 _Chapter Four: First Impressions; Uzumaki Style_

* * *

"That was uncomfortable," groused Naruto as he felt his damaged nerves being connected to his new arm; one that was offered to him by Cinder. The arm went through an automated series of tests, starting with flexing the fingers, rotating the wrist (complete with doing full spins both clockwise and counterclockwise), and checking to see if _Aura_ was flowing through some of the wiring.

Naturally, instead of Aura, Naruto felt his chakra moving just fine through the mechanical arm.

"I'm not surprised. Nerves are fickle things after all," the doctor that had been paid to attach the arm noted. "Everything seems to be fine so far. However, if anything comes up that concerns you about the arm," he handed Naruto a card with a series of numbers on it, "give me a call so we can schedule an appointment."

"Anything special about this arm, besides it being the latest model?" Emerald asked. She had been tasked by Cinder to accompany Naruto for this, and she wanted to be sure that her Mistress's money wasn't going to waste.

"Well, inside of the arm chamber, there's some cable wires that have been retrofitted to act as a grapple line. It attaches to the wrist of the hand, which would act as the grapple itself. The fingers can have hooked _claws_ come out to anchor the grapple hand, or to act as a close quarters weapon if you prefer."

"How do I fire my hand?" Naruto asked, honestly a bit excited about the added feature of his new limb.

"It's activated by projecting your Aura through the cable and into your wrist. The wrist will detach and, if enough Aura is used, fire outward. If minimal Aura is used, it will only detach the wrist and you can maneuver it however you please," explained the doctor. He then handed the Uzumaki a small manual that gave better details about his arm. "Inside will explain everything, as well as inform you of the maintenance you will need to continuously perform on your arm so that it stays in working order."

"Thanks," replied the blonde before he was discharged from the hospital and led by Emerald through the streets of Vale City. As they walked, he moved around his arm to get a better feel for it and even practiced detaching the hand and activating his claws. "Man… If we had this kinda technology back home, so many lives could've been fixed…"

"What a shame," Emerald noted, not really caring for the conversation. "At least I don't have to see you moping around all the time now."

"Excuse me for battling my biggest rival and losing an arm for it!" fired back the Uzumaki with a growl. "Not to mention being sent away from my home for all my efforts!"

"You gonna go cry in the corner again, Whiskers?" taunted the red-eyed girl.

"Don't push me, Emerald," he warned, releasing a minuscule amount of chakra; just enough to make her feel some pressure around her form. "Or did you forget just what I could do to you?" he finished, taking the lead and walking off down the road while Emerald struggled not to let the show of power – however small it was – bother her.

Once the pressure lifted, she followed the blonde and kept glaring at him from behind. He made her feel so powerless, and she _loathed_ that feeling. Mentally, she made a promise to return the favor one day; just so she could relish in having _some_ kind of power over him.

"I'm gonna explore the city," informed Naruto before taking a sudden right turn down another road. "I'll see you back at the hotel."

She watched as he waved back at her with his new arm, not even looking over his shoulder as he walked off. Scoffing, she continued walking towards the hotel she and her associates were staying in. _'Cinder is currently getting us into Beacon, so she won't be back for some time. Roman is getting in touch with Junior to pull off another heist. Neo and Merc are at the base waiting for us to get back. The asshole could easily find his way back to us,'_ she mused, glad to have some time away from the Uzumaki.

He got under her skin so easily, and she needed a break.

* * *

"The money this place has is so weird," commented Naruto with a sour look, eyeing the card-like currency that Cinder gave him. Based on what she informed him of about the currency, he had about one-hundred lien (100Ⱡ). "Alright, let's see if I can't find something good to eat in this city."

Walking around, he took note of how very little Faunus were walking around in the city. He had been told about them by Neo when he asked her in private; knowing how she didn't really like talking. From what she had told him, Faunus were treated like second class citizens; similar to how poorly Jinchūriki like him were treated.

It bothered him at how eerily similar circumstances were between the Elemental Nations and Remnant. Not only was there a hopeless situation in this place, there was also cruel prejudice against people not in control of how they were born or raised. _Very_ few people wanted to be Jinchūriki; most not having a choice in the matter. And yet, they were hated for that lack of choice.

Faunus were despised and feared for having animal characteristics. Thinking about it, Naruto made the decision to introduce himself as a Faunus. After all, he had two sets of animal affinities; both from his parents. From Minato, he got his affinity for Toads (one that was "awakened" by Jiraiya). From Kushina, he got his Fox affinity (since she held Kurama when he was born).

So, it wouldn't be much of a lie to say that he was a Faunus hybrid with Toad and Fox features (Toad only being visible during certain moments). It made sense to him, at any rate.

"Psst…" a whisper sounded, breaking him his thoughts just in time for someone to grab him by the sleeve of his shirt and tug him into an alleyway.

With a surprised grunt, he was about to give the person a piece of his mind, but familiar red eyes stopped that train in its tracks. "Raven…?"

"Who else?" she asked back in jest, her eyes showing amusement. It was all that was visible since she was wearing a full-body black cloak and a facemask similar to the one Kakashi always wore. "Sightseeing, are you?"

"Well, I need to familiarize myself with this place, don't I?" he defended with a grin. The grin fell as he continued, "So, what's with the pull-away? I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon; especially not within a week of our first meeting."

"I had a free moment, and I wanted to see how a certain fool I met was doing." Her eyes flicked to his visible prosthetic. "Got your arm fixed, I see."

He raised it up so he could see it eye level. "It was weird not having both arms. I'm not exactly used to seeing my arm like _this_ , but I'll take what I can get." He clenched his metallic hand, golden chakra shrouding it for a brief moment before fading out. "At least my chakra flow isn't too hindered."

"I can see that. Well, at least now you won't be so handicapped when the time comes; not that it would matter with your level of power."

"Don't give me a swelled head, Raven," he replied, his tone showing he was completely serious. "Many people have failed because they were overconfident; myself included. I don't need another failure on my conscience."

"Fair enough," she agreed before reaching into her cloak and handing him a small parcel. "Here, I figured you might need this."

Taking it with his new arm, he turned the wrapped box over and asked, "What is it?"

"In Remnant, Huntsmen and Huntresses use weapons known as firearms; and most are built into their melee weapons. Some people, however, keep those kinds of weapons separated. I myself use my sword mainly; but I keep a sidearm on my person just in case." She nodded her head to the parcel and continued, "That firearm should suit you. I made sure to have some ammunition packed with it as well. Get someone to teach how to better use it when you get the chance."

He nodded slowly. "Thanks. But why give me this?"

"To help you fit in. With your abilities, you're going to stand out. In fact, I suggest you keep a _very_ low profile for the time being, Uzumaki. If anything, just say that your _chakra_ is your Semblance. Semblances are unique to the individual, so it won't be too strange to say that yours is Pure Energy Manipulation."

"I got it. Not a big fan of hiding, but I know when it's needed. Anything else I should know about?"

She nodded. "I've seen this partner of yours. Be careful around her. She serves someone else; someone rather dark."

"I'm aware of the need for caution around her. She's trying to probe me for more information and make me see things her way. I don't know what her endgame is yet, but I'll be careful."

"Right… And keep your guard up around Ozpin. The man's more cunning than that woman is, and he probably already knows about you," added Raven before she turned to the end of the alley. A portal opened up and she moved over to it, saying one last thing before she entered it. "I'll keep in touch, Naruto."

With that, she was gone and Naruto was left mulling over her warnings. He already had some suspicions about Cinder and her subtle attempts to sway him to her cause. It was a respectable attempt; especially with how his depression lowered his guard. It reminded him of how some kunoichi pulled off some stealth missions.

While he didn't particularly like being the target of such acts, he couldn't help but see the nostalgia in them. It was strangely comforting; which unnerved him at the same time.

Taking a breath to gather his thoughts, he left the alleyway and resumed his search for something to eat. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that a red-eyed crow was just taking flight from its perch; which had a perfect view of the alley Raven pulled him into.

 _'Eye in the sky, indeed,'_ he mused, finding the irony in the saying.

* * *

"This is a Desert Eagle model," Neo explained, sitting on Naruto's bed as she inspected his new firearm. She had just finished showing him how to load it, arm it, and how to turn the safety on and off. Now, she was going into detail about the gun itself. "It's got plenty of firepower in it, so it also has a lot of kickback."

"I've never used firearms before, so what makes this model so special?"

"Mainly the power behind it. But it's also semi-automatic, which makes it easier to get more rounds off," she answered, putting the gun back in the box it came in.

"So, power and speed," summarized the blonde. "I need to get a better understanding of this if I'm going to use it in the future." He sighed and leaned back in the chair he was seated in. "What do you think about us going to Beacon, Neo?"

She shrugged, showing that she wasn't too concerned about it.

"I figured as much," he commented with a short chuckle. "Nothing really seems to bother you; except for talking."

"I just prefer silence," she explained with crossed arms. "I hate how words can be so destructive, so I keep quiet and let my actions speak for me."

"At least you're honest with your actions. A lot of people I faced betrayed their own actions with their words, and the other way around too." He frowned as he recalled his fight with Pein. "One of the few things I hate is when someone lies to themselves to justify their own actions. If you need to lie to yourself, then there's something very wrong in your life."

She frowned as well, taking note of his tone. It sounded like he was speaking to himself at the same time when he said those words.

He sighed again, running his metal hand through his hair and slightly shivering at the cool touch it gave his head. "Oh well… No point in wallowing in the past; not anymore. We have a big day tomorrow, so we should probably get some rest."

Neo nodded and got off of his bed before heading for the door. Just before she opened it, she turned back to him and asked, "What do you plan to do now?"

He was silent for a moment, finding the right words to say in response. "…I plan on making an impression," he answered vaguely before giving Neo a small smile. "Goodnight, Neo."

She returned his smile with a faint smirk and nod before leaving his room. While vague, she understood what he meant. Ever since they linked souls, she found a better understanding of the enigma that was Naruto Uzumaki.

And she enjoyed that enigma.

* * *

The next morning, with clothes and other necessities packed, Naruto found himself standing in a large airship surrounded by boys and girls in their late teens. He was looking out the window, enjoying the new perspective he had thanks to the ship.

He got a rush out of flying when he first used his Six Paths Sage Mode, but that was joined by the adrenaline of battling in a war. Here on the ship, it was far more relaxing.

"Enjoying the view?" Cinder asked as she moved over to his side, her signature smirk in place.

"Yep," he answered without turning to her. "So, what's your plan for getting us all on one team? You told me how the schools of Remnant consistently make teams of four and give them names. How will you guarantee the four of us being on a team?"

"Truthfully? I can't guarantee it. Best I can do is try to improve our chances; but I can't make it set in stone. Besides, teams are chosen at random, making it nearly impossible to get the _perfect_ team you were hoping for."

"Damn," cursed the blonde. "Well, let's hope for the best then." Inwardly, he was curious if his strange luck would work in his favor this time.

Outside of missions, it usually helped (especially with gambling).

During missions?

Yeah, let's just say that Naruto was justifiably cautious whenever he was on a mission.

A flash of red was caught in his peripheral, and he turned to see a short girl with a red hood and flowing cape. This captured his interest since Raven had told him that Summer's daughter had a red hood and a big scythe. Not to mention, the young teen looked like a mini-me of the white-cloaked woman from Raven's memories.

She was wearing a black blouse, a black waist cincher with red lacing and a skirt with red trimmings, completed by her hooded cloak. Holding the cloak in place were two pins that were attached to her blouse. Her belt had cartridges for ammo and strapped to her back was a folded hunk of metal, which Naruto guessed was her large scythe that Raven told him about. She had a nervous air about her, which wasn't surprising since the memories he saw from Raven informed him that Ruby Rose, daughter of Summer Rose, was only fifteen.

Standard age entry at Beacon, or any of the more well-known schools, was seventeen.

She was being gushed over by a rather buxom blonde girl; one that Naruto recognized in an instant.

 _'So, that's Yang… She looks like a blonde version of you, Raven; except she's still rather sheltered from the world,'_ he mused. He saw the excitement and pride Yang had on her face for Ruby, no doubt for getting accepted at an early age. _'She seems rather doting of little Ruby… Probably trying to fill that void that Summer's death and Raven's departure left there.'_

Normally, Naruto would be rather sympathetic for the two sisters. But, his own upbringing and seeing _why_ Raven left dulled that feeling. Besides, the two seemed to be alright for now.

Still, there was no harm in getting to know them. So, he moved away from Cinder, earning a raised brow from her, and walked over to the two sisters.

"I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees!" Ruby exclaimed, feeling _very_ self-conscious about her early acceptance.

Yang gave her sister a small smile; knowing how socially awkward she could be. However, she was cut off by a male voice. "Y'know, being normal is pretty overrated."

Both sisters turned to see a tall teen with wild blonde hair, stunning blue eyes, and whisker marked cheeks standing in front of them. He was dressed in open-toed black sandals that were made of durable material and also left his heel exposed. Over his legs, he wore black cargo plants with a knife holster wrapped around his right leg. Holding the pants up was an orange belt that had a pouch attached to it and resting behind him on his right side. He also wore a tunic-styled shirt that had two buttons to close it off in the abdomen area. The shirt itself was orange and had a black trim on it while only the left arm was covered by a sleeve; letting his prosthetic arm be seen by any and every one. Finishing off the look was a gun holster that had straps over his shoulders and was held together on his back. (1)

He gave them a friendly smile and wave, letting them see a red spiral etched onto the palm of his mechanical hand. "Yo," he greeted simply.

Yang gave him a once over and grinned, liking what she saw. "Hello~," she returned. "And you are?"

"Name's Naruto Uzumaki. I'm going to be attending Beacon today, just like you two. Couldn't help but notice how nervous you looked over here, Red." Ruby squeaked at being brought to attention. "You feeling unsure about all of this?"

She rubbed her arm awkwardly. "…A bit," she answered truthfully. Her eyes were locked onto his replacement arm, and he saw some sympathy in her silver orbs. "How'd that happen?"

"Rubes!" Yang admonished, knowing that the question was rather tactless.

"Relax, I'm not offended by it," Naruto assured his fellow blonde before looking down at Ruby. "I was in a fight with someone I once considered as a brother to me. We ended up blowing off each other's arms during the last part of our fight. Next thing I know, I'm waking up somewhere I don't know and with no one I knew."

"Whoa," both sisters responded.

"Harsh, dude," Yang added.

Shrugging Naruto turned his attention back to Ruby. "Nice try in changing the subject though, Red." He grinned at her guilty expression. "Listen, going to new places can be pretty intimidating; but, all you need to get over those nerves of yours is the guts to be yourself. You gotta leave an impression that is _you_ so that no one will forget just how unique you are."

"But I…" she tried to say, but was cut off.

"Trust me, being _part of the crowd_ is not something you should aim for. You wanna know why?" When she slowly nodded, he continued, "Because you lose your individuality. You start lying to yourself and become someone else."

The red themed girl looked down at that, a thoughtful look etched on her face. A large part of her was still afraid of being treated differently for being accepted by Ozpin, but a growing part of her was proud of herself and how she was already so close to achieving her dream; to be a Huntress and help people wherever she went, just like her mother did.

Seeing her sister out of it, the female blonde offered her hand to Naruto. "I'm Yang Xiao-Long, and my sister's named Ruby. Nice to meet you."

Taking her offered hand with his false hand, he shook it with a small smile. "You too, Yang. So, what's your goal with coming here?"

She shrugged. "Eh, learn how to fight better, go on a couple of missions, make a name for myself… Y'know, typical _big dreamer_ goals. You?"

"Like I said to Ruby, I want to make an impression here," he answered vaguely. "Remnant's due for some big changes soon, and I want to be a part of that change."

She was a bit confused at his answer, but she shrugged it off. It wasn't that odd of a goal; everyone wanted to make changes for the better. The way she saw it, her fellow blonde just wanted to get as early a start as possible in his changes.

"Naruto," a voice called out, making the three of them turn to see Cinder looking a bit expectant. "You can meet new people later."

He gave her a raised brow in response before shrugging and turning back to the sisters. "See ya later, I guess. Think about what I said, Red." Walking away from them, he gave Cinder a questioning look. "Problem?"

"I'd rather we stick close to each other, is all. We're not here to make friends or anything silly like that. Don't forget the real reason we're here."

"You said _Change_ was the reason we're here, Cinder. You never specified _how_ that was supposed to happen. Besides, those two reminded me of people I once met. I was curious if they were related to them."

This caught her interest. "You've met others from Remnant?"

He mentally cursed at his slip-up. Thinking fast, he answered, "I met a couple of people when I went around town yesterday. One of them helped me pick out the gun I have on me."

She took a quick glance at the Desert Eagle that was held in his gun holster. "I see… Regardless, try not to wander off anymore." His grin in response wasn't something she had hoped to see. "…You're not really here, are you?"

Shaking his head, the now revealed clone of Naruto answered, "Nope. Boss took another way to the school and is already checking out the place." She frowned at him and he waved her off with his left hand. "Relax, Cinder. Boss knows not to cause too much trouble."

"I'm sorry; _too much_?" she repeated, her frown deepening and her arms crossed.

The clone just grinned. "Don't be surprised if you see that Boss livened up the place."

She palmed her face at that and sighed. "Wonderful…"

* * *

Naruto hummed to himself as he finished his latest project, which involved marking the face of the school with his clan symbol. He grinned at how it spruced up the place, giving it some more color and life.

"Perfect!" commented the Uzumaki, unlocking the cable in his mechanical arm so that he could lower himself back down to ground level. With a jerk of the arm, the clawed hand let go of the building and retracted back to him, clicking as it reconnected with the wrist section.

"Well uh…" a voice started, making him turn to see a rather beautiful redhead dressed in bronze armor staring at his artwork. "It's certainly…expressive?" she complimented, though her tone sounded unsure.

"Thanks," he replied, getting her attention. "Glad that someone can appreciate real art when they see it." He offered her his right hand to shake. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

She gave him a kind smile and shook his hand, not bothered at seeing it so open for others to see. "Pyrrha Nikos. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You too. So, you from Vale?"

Shaking her head, she fell in step with him as he began to walk around the school once again. "No, I'm from Mistral. But, I made the decision to come to Beacon since it's the most well-known of the Kingdom Academies."

"I keep hearing that about this place. Personally, I would rather not be in any kind of school, but some friends of mine decided to come here, and I didn't want to be left alone." He ignored how people were whispering and trying to be discreet as he walked with the tall girl; her heels making her slightly taller than him. "So, anything you hope to gain from coming here?"

She gave a slightly awkward chuckle was her response. "I'd…rather not say. You'd see it as something silly."

"Try me," he pressed gently, giving her a smile. "I promise not to laugh."

Turning to him, she saw pure sincerity in his eyes and it made her smile softly. "I was…hoping to make some friends here."

"People not that friendly in Mistral?" he asked, looking confused.

"No, it's not that. You see, I'm actually pretty well-known around the Kingdoms because of my victories in the annual tournaments." She looked depressed at this, concerning the blonde Uzumaki. "I've been…blessed with incredible talents and opportunities, and I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise. But when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place. Everyone assumes I'm too good for them," she gave the other students a glance, "that I'm on a level that they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people."

"That's terrible," he commented truthfully. "I'm sorry that you have to go through that." She gave him a grateful look for the sympathy. "Y'know…I had a hard time making friends too when I was growing up."

"Really?" she asked, interested.

He nodded and explained, "I was born on a day that was rather infamous in my village. People saw it as a rather bad omen, and they urged their kids to keep their distance from me. It was hard, and I was lonely for so many years before I entered my first school. It was there that I finally got to talk to other kids my age, and I found myself making friends with other troublemakers like myself." He chuckled at the memory, making her smile at the warmth she heard in his laugh. "I'll never forget the friends I made."

"Where are they now?"

"Gone," he answered simply, making her cringe slightly.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. You didn't know," he assured her. "Besides, I think you and I just made new friends today. Wouldn't you agree, Pyrrha?"

She looked surprised at the question before smiling beautifully. "Yes… Yes, I agree completely, Naruto."

The two of them smiled as they kept walking, enjoying the comfort in the new bond they had formed.

* * *

"So, did you enjoy checking out the school grounds on your own?" Cinder asked when the real Naruto regrouped with her and the other girls.

"Yep!" he answered with a grin. "Got to liven up the place a bit," he jabbed a thumb at the red spiral on the building, "met someone pretty cool," Cinder raised a brow at that, "and got to see how unprepared all these kids really are." His face turned from jovial to serious in an instant. "They're treating this like a game when there's real dangers out there they don't even know about."

"True, which is why we're trying to change that outdated way of thinking," assured Cinder, though Naruto suspected a different reason for her _changes_. "At any rate, we should head inside for the orientation ceremony. I'm curious about the _words of wisdom_ the Headmaster plans to give his newest students."

He shrugged and let her lead on, following after her and Emerald while Neo decided to hitch a ride on his shoulders. He figured she must've really enjoyed her new vantage point because she rested her arms on his head and her head in her arms as he walked toward the auditorium.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked, his blue eyes looking upward. She leaned forward a bit so that he could see her face. A smirk was her answer, which he gave an amused look in reply. "Try not to fall then, Neo-chan."

Her smirk grew and her eyes turned pink in response.

* * *

"Boys and girls all sleeping together in a large building," commented Naruto dryly, leaning against the wall with Neo while Cinder and Emerald left to get dressed in comfortable sleepwear. He himself was wearing an orange wife beater and black sweats. "This sounds like a great opportunity for _peep shows_ …"

"Pervert," teased the ice cream themed girl, who had dressed into her own sleepwear under the protection of her illusionary Semblance. She was now dressed in brown sweats with a white shirt that had a pink trim on it.

He rolled his eyes at her teasing. "Not perverted to point out what these teenagers will try to do."

She nodded in acceptance at that as she set up her bedroll next to him. "Sleep now."

"I'll be fine," he replied, watching her lay down on her roll after setting up his for him. "I just want to stay up a bit longer and get a better read on these kids."

"You do realize that you're their age, right?" Emerald asked as she and Cinder returned. She was dressed like he was, except that her shirt was a green tank top. Cinder was dressed in red silk pajamas that looked to be made from the finest fabric.

"Age is but a number. Besides, mentally I'm much older than they are. I've been through a war, after all."

"True, and I'm still rather curious about that war," commented Cinder.

"It's not something I like to look back on," he shot down, frowning at the memories. "Anyway, I'm gonna go get some air before I hit the sack." He gave them a small wave before walking off, heading for the exit.

Once he was gone, Emerald commented, "He's still an asshole…"

"Calm down," admonished her mistress. "He's simply coming to terms with everything. Whatever he went through during that war is still fresh in his mind."

The red-eyed girl scoffed at that. "He's just being pissy…"

"You too," Neo cut in with a smirk.

"No one asked you, Neo!"

"Enough," Cinder cut off, her eyes glowing briefly. "I won't tolerate fighting amongst ourselves. Am I clear?" Both of them nodded. "Good. Now, get some rest. We'll need it for our little _test_ tomorrow."

* * *

"Nice night, huh?" Naruto asked as he approached a ravenette girl dressed in an evening yukata.

She turned away from her book to him, letting him see her piercing amber orbs. "Can I help you?"

"Nah, I was just hoping to get some fresh air before going to sleep. Sorry if I disturbed you." He made to turn away, but the faintest of twitches made him pause. "Any reason why you're hiding your ears?"

She tensed. "What are you-?"

"Relax. You're among kin," he assured, jabbing a thumb at his whiskers. "But why are you hiding?"

She frowned and subtly sniffed the air around him before relaxing when she smelt a heavy scent of fox – along with toads strangely – coming from him. "I don't want to be judged on appearances. The minute people see that I'm a Faunus, they'll treat me as if I was part of the White Fang."

"Are you?" immediately asked the blonde with crossed arms.

She hesitated for a second. "…No."

He hummed at that. "What you're doing is pretty stupid."

"Excuse me?" the girl retorted, glaring at him.

"You're lying; both to everyone here _and_ to yourself. You say you don't want to be judged by appearances. Well bravo, now you're being judged for lying. What happens if you make friends and they found out you were a Faunus from some other method?" He didn't let her answer as he finished, "They'd know you were lying to them and that you weren't upfront from the get-go. They'd lose trust in you and wonder what else you kept hidden from them."

"But I-"

"You're too afraid to face the woman in the mirror," he cut off again with a frown. "A shame too, because the woman I see is quite beautiful." Turning away, he started to head back inside. "Enjoy living a lie, Kitten…"

With that said, he left her alone with her thoughts. And for Blake Belladonna, her thoughts were a jumbled mess.

Looking up to the shattered moon, she wondered if what her fellow Faunus said was from personal experience; if he lived a lie of his own and saw the damage it caused. Frowning to herself, she decided to make a real decision once she got her team.

Although, part of her wished that he would become one of her teammates; if only to help push her forward.

* * *

 **1~ The holster is the same one used by Nathan Drake in all the Uncharted Games**

 **Chapter Four is done! It's a bit short, I know; but I hope that it was to your liking, guys!**

 **It's the New Year! That means that it's a fresh start for many people; a chance to make new yearly impacts! For me, I'm hoping to get a better grip on my updates and stories! Wish me luck, right? *sheepish grin***

 **Anyway, please review and tell me what you think of this story!**

 **One last thing: since no one really stepped forward on the subject, I've decided to give a** _ **Characters Reading**_ **version of this Naruto/RWBY crossover a shot. I just hope I don't get flamed or harassed again for making it.**

 **Hope you all give it a look when I post it!**

 **Until next time!**

 _ **~pain17ification~**_


	5. Chapter 5: Initiation

**Alright then!**

 **Shall we continue? _*smirks*_**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **pain17ification**_ **owns nothing**

* * *

 _Sackcloth and Ashes_

 _Chapter Five: Initiation_

* * *

"I'm telling you, Oz," a man spoke up, taking a short swig from a flask before continuing, "you've gotta keep an eye on that kid. He's been hanging around with the wrong sort of people."

A man with silver hair and brown eyes looked to the speaker, a cup of warm coffee in his hands. "And who has he been seen with, exactly?"

"My sister, for starters," came the immediate answer. "And last I checked, Raven wasn't the type to hang around with random people unless they shared her mindset or were useful to her."

"That's concerning, but has he done anything to warrant suspicion other than being seen with Raven? Has he acted out against the public, or harmed anyone?"

"It'll only be a matter of time with Raven involved."

"Qrow, I know that Raven's views on the world aren't exactly…acceptable, but you can't blame her for anything that this boy has yet to do," Ozpin stated, setting his coffee down on his desk to steeple his hands together in his lap.

"I can if she's given him the means to do so," the red-eyed man retorted. "When I saw the kid before Raven talked to him, he had nothing on him in terms of weapons; and everyone with training keeps a weapon on hand wherever they go. Next thing I see, my sister gives him some kind of package and _the next day_ , the guy's got a firearm on hand. That can't be coincidence, Oz."

"I suppose not. However, I can't do anything unless I have solid evidence to support this. While I trust you with many things, I can't just place him under surveillance based on a hunch; which is what this is." He raised a hand to stop Qrow from saying anything. "And you know this, Qrow. Your views on your sister are, regrettably, biased thanks to your past with her."

The man took a breath to steady himself before crossing his arms. "So then…you'll do nothing?"

"I keep an eye on all of my potential students, my friend; especially those who show something noteworthy. Perhaps Mr. Uzumaki will show us something worth keeping an eye on."

The two men shared a look, and Qrow nodded to the man before leaving his office. Ozpin wouldn't let him down.

He never had.

* * *

Jolting awake, Naruto hissed in pain and grabbed where his arm connected to metal while his eyes were wide in panic. Looking around, he saw that everyone else was still asleep since it was still pretty early in the morning.

"Dammit…" he cursed softly. "Another nightmare…" Getting out of his bedroll, he grabbed his clothes and moved through the throng of sleeping students to change.

Unknown to him, a pair of mismatching eyes opened as he got up and watched him leave. They narrowed in slight concern before Neo decided to speak with the blonde Uzumaki later. Something was bothering him; she could feel it.

After he got dressed in his new "combat gear", Naruto decided to go for a morning run so that he could clear his head. Running around the campus was sure to do the trick, and he figured that he could finish a couple of laps before the initiation was set to begin.

Passing by the students again as he headed for the door, he moved past someone who should've been familiar to him had he been paying attention. The person's bow twitched and an amber eye cracked open just in time to see him head out the door. The other eye opened as Blake sat up and stared at the door, frowning in confusion at why her fellow Faunus was up so early.

 _'Who are you?'_ she thought to herself before she decided to get some more rest.

* * *

A couple of laps around the campus later, Naruto returned to the auditorium just in time to see the other potential students up and about. Moving through the sea of people, he made his way to where Cinder and the others had chosen to sleep last night.

Bumping into someone, he turned to them and said, "Sorry."

"Watch where you're going!" a girl with white hair and blue eyes shot back before she continued off to where she had been headed.

"I said _sorry_ ," groused the Uzumaki with a roll of his eyes before turning back around. Once he reached the others, he asked, "Any word on where to go?"

"We're supposed to head for the cliffs with our gear and weapons ready," answered Cinder, handing him his things. She was currently out of her signature dress in exchange for her cover gear.

Said gear consisted of a pair of gray pants and boots, a beige leather, sleeveless jacket with light-beige details, brown gloves, a sarashi tied around her chest and another around her hips, and a pauldron on her left shoulder. She also wore a belt around her waist, which had multiple brown pouches attached to it.

"Nice outfit," Naruto commented offhandedly as he put on his holster pack and holstered his gun. He then strapped the sheathe for his trench knife to his left leg while putting ammo packs for his gun in the pouch opposite to said weapon. "The dress made you stand out too much, if you ask me."

"Yes," agreed Cinder with a smirk as the four of them headed for the cliffs. "I thought so too; and I appreciate the compliment, Naruto."

He shrugged off her thanks as they headed upwards with the other students, being instructed to stand on pads at the top of the cliff that overlooked an expansive forest. Seeing it, the displaced shinobi couldn't help giving a smirk of his own.

"Oh yeah… I'm home," he declared as he stood on his pad, testing the suspension on it. as other students got on their own, he looked between the forest below and the pads as his smirk stayed in place. "This might be fun…"

"What might be?" a familiar voice asked, making him turn to see Pyrrha. With a bright smile and wave, she greeted, "Hello again."

"Hey, yourself," he returned, smiling back to her. "And I was talking about how we're gonna be launched into the forest from these things we're standing on."

She took a moment to observe what he had noted before nodding in understanding. "I see. I guess I can see why it would be fun for you."

He shrugged at that. "I've always liked to have some fun with what I do. Being launched into a forest instead of entering it on our own is different; and I like it."

She only smiled at his honest response. "It _does_ sound like it'll be a nice change of pace. And I hope that we'll become partners, Naruto."

His smile strained a little at that. He would've liked to be her partner too, but he and the others had plans to change things. If those plans were meant to go through, then he, unfortunately, couldn't become her partner.

So, he said nothing and just smiled as best as he could to her as she was launched from her pad into the forest.

"Good luck, young man," a voice he didn't recognize said to him, making him turn to see the man that Cinder and Raven told him was Ozpin. "And remember, who you make eye contact with will be your partner for the foreseeable future."

The two locked eyes with one another, and Naruto felt his pad coil downwards in preparation to launch him. "That's just stupid," he deadpanned as he was launched.

Watching him fly off, Ozpin took a sip of his coffee and replied aloud, "We'll see, Mr. Uzumaki."

* * *

Hurtling through the air was nothing new to Naruto, since he had experienced that many times during the war. What made this different was that it wasn't a true warzone he was in, and that it was children that were being tested.

While it was true that before and during the war he could've been referred to as a child, it was still _war_ ; something that forces you to grow up.

His eyes flicked side to side as he looked for a good spot to land, absently hearing a familiar voice in the wind cry out, "Birdy, no!"

Despite himself, he couldn't help but chuckle at that, finding Ruby's concern for _collateral damage_ to be adorable. It was something he needed with war memories fresh on his mind. It was a counterbalance that he craved.

Mentally thanking the girl, he finally picked a branch and sent out his grapple hand towards it, spearing the clawed digits into the wood deep enough to anchor him as he had it reel him in from midair. With a jerk of the arm, the hand was freed and clicked back in place as he tucked and rolled on the ground, standing up on his feet without any issue.

"Alright, let's see… Find a partner, find the relics, get back to cliff. Simple enough," he summarized as he breathed in the natural air that the city severely lacked. "I missed this," he noted softly, basking in the feeling of nature and entering Sage Mode for a brief moment; just enough to get a general idea of where the other students were heading.

Once he had it, he released the natural energy gathered and started walking. It'd been too long since he just _walked_ through the woods. He wanted to savor the feeling.

* * *

"Seems like Miss Xiao-Long and Miss Belladonna have been partnered up," Glynda Goodwitch, on of Beacon's professors and Ozpin's trusted partner, reported as she kept updates on the students. She swiped through her scroll tablet, checking out other partnerings worth mention. "And the Schnee heiress has been paired with the young Rose girl."

"Interesting partner for Miss Rose," mused the Headmaster, taking a sip from his mug. "They'll have a rocky start, for sure."

Glynda said nothing about that as she continued looking through the students. Her brows furrowed slightly when she came upon another partnering. "…The Fall girl was able to pair up with one of her cohorts."

"…" Ozpin said nothing.

"Sir, why is it that you've let that girl and her allies join the school? It's obvious that they're more than their transcripts say they are, considering the reports Qrow gave us."

"There's a saying, Glynda. _Keep your friends close_ …"

He didn't need to finish, and she knew it. "And what of the other two seen with them? Qrow never mentioned anything about them."

"He spoke to me about the boy early this morning. He's convinced that we need to keep a closer eye on him than Miss Fall."

"He's that much of a threat?" Glynda asked in surprise, not having expected that.

"Qrow believes that; though I'm willing to give the boy the benefit of the doubt for now. He hasn't done anything more than get in touch with the wrong people. And even then, there's nothing he's done to warrant suspicion."

Glynda hummed thoughtfully at that, turning to the video feed of the blonde in question. She studied him through the feed, brows creasing faintly. "He walks as if he's trying to commit a simple walk to memory. Perhaps this is connected to why he's got a false arm?"

"Perhaps, but it isn't our place to speculate; not at the present time. For now, we will watch over him like we do for _all_ of our students."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Having a blonde teammate was something Pyrrha was hoping for. Unfortunately, it was the wrong one in question. Still, from her interactions earlier with Jaune, she had a feeling that she still found a nice teammate.

Though, while he was a _nice_ teammate, that wasn't to say that he was a…functional one. For starters, she had to help him unlock his Aura; something that should've been unlocked years ago. He held his weapons – and himself – with low confidence, which was concerning.

And currently, he had led the two of them into a dark cavern, found a "relic" which turned out to be an egg of sorts, and was flung away by a Death Stalker that had chased them outside of the cave and was now after her.

…Part of her believed her luck wouldn't have been this bad with the _right_ blonde.

 _'I'm sorry,'_ she mentally apologized to Jaune, feeling guilty for belittling him; even if it was in her mind.

* * *

Arms cradling the back of his head as he walked, Naruto only rose a brow when he saw a hyperactive girl with orange hair – something he subconsciously found himself jealous of – tear through dozens of trees while joyriding on the back of a pissed off Ursa. A part of him wondered if this was what Kakashi felt like whenever a "black cat" crossed his path.

…

…

Nah, the man was obviously full of shit about that. After all, he even confessed why he was always late to the blonde Uzumaki months before the war. He wanted time to talk with those he lost whose names were on the Memorial Stone in the village.

Blinking, he suddenly found himself wondering if he should make his own memorial before he savagely destroyed that thought. _'They aren't dead,'_ he reminded himself. _'Until you know_ for sure _that they're dead, don't_ ever _think that again, Uzumaki!'_

Nodding to himself in agreement to that promise, he absently noted that a young man dressed in green with magenta eyes ran after the Ursa-riding girl. "Nora! Wait up!" he called out to her, voice full of concern.

It was understandable since the girl was riding something that wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

He was about to follow before his senses picked up something above him. Turning his gaze upward, he locked eyes with Neo, who was floating down, almost casually, with her umbrella. She smirked at him as she landed, making him shake his head in amusement.

"Took you long enough to land," he joked.

Shrugging, she closed her umbrella and grabbed it at the center before doing a handspring and settling herself on his shoulders. Bending forward so that she looked at him upside down, she gave him another smirk that he chuckled at.

"Off we go, then," he stated, still in a joking manner as he followed after the two from before. "Glad to have you as my partner, Neo-chan."

"Same," was all she said.

* * *

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked after said girl was _saved_ from a harsh landing by Jaune flying into her and sending them both into a tree.

"I-" Yang tried to say.

She was cut off by an Ursa – the one that Nora had been riding – crashed through some trees and collapsed after Nora shot it with one of her grenades.

"Aww…" she whined sadly. "It's broken…"

Not far behind her, an out of breath Ren stopped to rest, using the downed Ursa for support. "Nora," he began, taking a few deep breaths before finishing, "please…don't ever do that again."

"Look, Ren!" she called out to him, making everyone see that she was somehow _yards_ away from where she once was and was holding up a gold Rook chess piece. "I'm Queen of the Castle~!" she sang eagerly before skipping over to him.

Blake couldn't help but ask, "Did… Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?"

Once again, Yang tried to say something. "I-"

But again, she was cut off by more trees falling as a Death Stalker chased Pyrrha and she was only able to keep herself inches from being taken out by its claws. "A little help, please!" she called out, sounding very winded from the continuous sprint she was forced to maintain.

"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?"

Blake once again felt the need to ask the obvious; though she was honestly amused at how often her partner was being cut off.

That amusement grew when Yang growled and then, almost literally, exploded. "I can't take it anymore!" Her eyes were red, a sign of her anger. "Can everyone just chill out for _two seconds_ before something crazy happens again?!"

 _'Ah, classic,'_ Blake mused, fighting a laugh.

Ruby was looking up with a worried face, and she gently nudged her sister. "Um… Yang?"

Said blonde slumped in defeat.

"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME?!" they all heard Weiss scream over the wind as she held onto a Nevermore's talon for dear life.

"I said _jump_ …" Ruby mumbled.

"She's gonna fall," Blake noted.

"She'll be fine," the young Rose waved off, though she herself didn't sound all too sure.

The sound of her scream shattered that notion as she began to descend at rapid speed.

"She's falling," Ren stated.

What followed was Jaune jumping from the tree he was in so that he could catch Weiss. While he succeeded, he forgot to remember that gravity _always_ won. And win it did as the two fell to the ground, with Weiss landing on top of the swordsman; and in a painful way for said Arc.

To finish things off, Pyrrha finally couldn't take the maintained speed anymore and was sent flying by the Death Stalker, landing with an exhausted huff before Ruby and the others. Yang saw this as the perfect time to summarize their situation.

"Great! The gang's all here! Now, we can die together!" she exclaimed with false cheer.

The Death Stalker turned to them and prepared to engage while the Nevermore was circling around for another round. Seeing no sense in staying, Ruby quickly grabbed a golden Knight, unknowingly matching the one Yang grabbed before, while Jaune grabbed the other golden Rook.

Left alone in the ruins were two black Queens. One of which was grabbed by a slender hand that belonged to Cinder. "Fitting," she mused, smirking in amusement.

"I'll say," Emerald agreed, taking notice of the other eight at the two Grimm in range of them. "Think we should help?"

"I'd rather not, but we can't ignore an opportunity to remove any suspicion from us," Cinder answered, forming a ball of fire and sending it hurtling into the Death Stalker's face, making it roar in surprise and pain.

"What the-?" Yang asked before turning to see two girls moving over to stand beside them.

"So sorry," the amber-eyed one apologized, holding another fireball. "I hope you don't mind if we cut in."

"By all means," Weiss answered.

The Nevermore decided to make its presence known as it dived down at them all. Wings tucked, it shot down at high speed for an intentional crash landing that was cut off by an orange and pink blur slamming into it, striking the side of its face and throwing off its aim so that it hit some trees off to the side.

Landing behind them all, having used the recoil to propel them, was Naruto and Neo, with the girl having used her umbrella as a makeshift ram that was enhanced by Naruto's chakra.

"Did we miss the ass-kicking?" Naruto asked, smirking at them with Neo.

"Naruto!" Pyrrha, Ruby, and Yang exclaimed happily while Blake looked pleased to see him as well.

"Took your time, Blondie," Emerald teased, reading her weapons in their gun forms.

Shrugging, he replied, "Sorry. I got lost on the Road of Life."

Silence greeted him before it was broken by Yang snickering. "Classic!"

Neo took this time to leap off the blonde and grab the last black Queen piece. Turning to Cinder, she saw the woman smirk and nod, making her return it. She then moved over to her partner as he faced the two damaged Grimm. "Fight?"

"That's the plan," he answered with a grin before he charged at the Death Stalker, who looked the most recovered out of the two. "Finish off the Nevermore and get out of here!" he ordered the others as he, Neo, Cinder, and Emerald all took on the Death Stalker.

"Right!" Ruby replied, shooting for the birdlike Grimm with reckless abandon.

"Ruby, wait!" Yang called out, only for it to be too late since the Nevermore screeched and stuck outwards with its wings, hitting Ruby and sending her tumbling back.

"I-I'm okay!" she called out, sounding dazed.

The Nevermore took to the air and turned, sending forth a rain of feathers with sharpened quills that were mean to skewer her. The young Rose was able to evade them for the most part, but one of them pinned her down by her cloak, leaving her trapped.

"Ruby!" Yang called out again, racing towards her sister with Blake and the others in tow.

More feathers rained down towards the trapped girl, and they would've killed her if a thick wall of ice hadn't been formed just in the nick of time to intercept and capture them. "What…?" Ruby asked, looking surprised.

"I swear, you are so childish," she heard Weiss admonish. "And dimwitted, and hyperactive, and _don't_ even get me started on your fighting style."

Ruby cringed at every put-down.

"But," the next thing made Ruby perk up, "I suppose I could be a bit…difficult. So, if we're going to do this, we need to do it together. If you quit trying to show off," she took a moment to make sure the Nevermore was kept occupied by the others, "I'll try to be a bit…nicer."

"I wasn't trying to show off," Ruby replied softly, sounding slightly ashamed. "I just wanted you to know that I can do this."

Weiss rose a brow at that before giving a faint smile. "You're fine." Ruby smiled back and was helped to her feet by the heiress. "Now c'mon, the others need our help."

Left alone, Ruby took a moment to compose herself before she rushed after her partner, ready to do her part.

* * *

"You seem to be in a good mood, Naruto," commented Cinder as she and said blonde teamed up and kept the pincers of the Grimm at bay. She was using her fire to form twin swords of black glass that she used almost expertly.

He himself was using his new arm to hold back the other pincer while Emerald and Neo fired at will on the Grimm's face. "Just been a while since I had a fight. I'm a bit," he stopped to grab the pincer, digging his clawed fingers into it while pulling out his Desert Eagle and firing of a few rounds, "on edge, y'know." He then holstered the gun once again and tugged the Grimm hard, pulling it closer to him so that he could boot it with a chakra enhanced foot to its face, sending it flying while his cable extended, keeping the Grimm within range. "I need to get myself back under control before I get stir crazy."

"I understand. Then, would you like to take this Grimm on alone?" she suggested, using her fire to change the swords into a bow and some black arrows, firing a few of them with deadly accuracy.

With a grunt, Naruto jerked his arm and tugged the cable, pulling the Grimm back and releasing his hand from its pincer. "I'd appreciate it," he said calmly before ducking and spinning, getting low enough to be under the airborne Grimm so that he could kick it upwards from its belly.

With it catching more air, he ran forward a few feet before hitting a backflip, jumping high enough to be over the Grimm while his left hand pulled out his trench knife and enhanced it with Wind Style chakra.

"Do we help him?" Emerald asked, stepping up to Cinder alongside Neo.

The woman held them back with an outstretched arm, never looking away from the fight. "No. Let's see what he's capable of."

Neo smirked at that, having a good idea what he was going to do and simply waited for it to happen. Absently, she never noticed her tongue poke out and lick her lips in excitement.

Back with Naruto, he was right above the Grimm, looking it in the eye with his belly to the sky. "I want you to send a message to your master," he stated before twisting in the air and shooting down, extending the wind blade of his weapon to an incredible length that cleaved the Grimm in half like a hot knife through butter. When he landed, he cut the flow of chakra and watched the Grimm disintegrate, never moving his gaze away from its red eyes. "Tell them…I want to talk…"

* * *

 _"…face to face."_

That was what the person seated on a throne in a dark chamber heard as she felt one of her Grimm die. Her black eyes, enhanced by the red irises within, looked intrigued at the message sent to her. A smirk formed on her paled lips as she connected the speaker to the intense life energy spike she felt a few weeks ago.

"A talk, you say?" she mused aloud, standing up from her throne and moving towards one of the windows within the chamber, letting the outside light reveal herself to the world.

She was a woman with skin that was a deathly pallor, covered with tortuous, deep red and purple veins that run up her arms and face. The woman gave off an heir of dark regality, dressed in a very long black robe with red designs that resembled eyes, a ring resembling an insect on her right index finger, and pure white hair that was formed into a bun with six offshoots from which ornaments were suspended; making it resemble an arachnoid of sorts.

"Very well then," she continued, still smirking as she stared at the expanse of her world that was teeming with Grimm. "I look forward to our…talk, newcomer."

* * *

"Ruby Rose," Ozpin was heard saying, having been naming the new Teams that would become a part of Beacon, "Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao-Long. Together, the four of you gathered the White Knight pieces, and are henceforth named Team RWBY…led by Ruby Rose."

Both the new leader and the heiress looked shocked at that while everyone else applauded the young woman respectfully. "Way to go, Red," echoed Naruto's voice as he gave the girl a supportive thumbs-up; one that made her smile back.

"Next, we have Pyrrha Nikos, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren. The four of you gathered the White Rook pieces, and are henceforth named Team JNPR…led by Jaune Arc."

Said blonde looked like he might be ill at that, never expecting himself to be given such a responsibility. Pyrrha gave him a supportive pat on the back, but it was a bit too strong and he fell in a heap, earning a few laughs and an apology from her as she helped him back up.

 _'He needs to get his act together, fast; or he won't last long out there,'_ Naruto thought with a frown as he and his obvious teammates walked onto the stage.

"Lastly, having retrieved the Black Queen pieces, we have Cinder Fall, Naruto Uzumaki, Neopolitan, and Emerald Sustrai." He took a moment to regard them all, earning a faint smirk from Cinder that he didn't react to. "Due to having a Team CMNN (Carmine) already in commission, they will be named team FUNS (Funhaus (1))…led by Cinder Fall."

Rolling his eyes, Naruto mused, _'Of course it is.'_

The newest team faced the crowd and a few people gave the only male member a smile that he returned with a faint grin. Noticing this, Cinder felt her brows furrow slightly and she knew that these connections being formed by the Uzumaki would get in the way of her plans.

She had to do something before he got too attached.

* * *

Far from the school, yet still aware of what was going on, a red eyed ravenette smirked at the last team to be announced. "Good work," she praised aloud. She pocketed her listening equipment and added, "Keep it up, Naruto."

A crow's caw made her pause in her exit, and she turned to look at it with restrained annoyance.

"Still spying on your little sister, Qrow?" she asked the bird, making it caw before it flashed black and became a man she had known since her birth. "What do you want?"

"I was gonna ask you the same question," he retorted. "Only, I would've also asked this: What's your goal with the blonde brat that's with the enemy?"

"Oh… _The enemy_ , huh? Funny, I don't see her as a real _enemy_ of mine; only her master," quipped Raven, crossing her arms.

"Quit playing games," Qrow stated, crossing his own and locking his red eyes with his sister's own. "What's your interest in him?"

"None of your concern," she immediately shot down. "Who I speak with and who I associate with are not for you to get involved in. You cut yourself out of my life when you turned your back on the tribe, _big brother_."

He said nothing, only narrowing his eyes at her.

"At any rate, he knows what's at stake and I've warned him about your _enemy_ ," she added, air quoting the last word. "I've warned him about Ozpin too."

"Ozpin isn't-"

"Don't talk to me about what _that_ man _is_ and _isn't_ ," she cut off, hair flickering red for an instant before she calmed herself. "I know what he's capable of, what he hides, and what he wants to do." She smirked as a portal took shape behind her and she began to back-step into it. "I just hope that whoever he picks is ready for the sacrifice they will have to make for _his_ selfish desires," she finished before the portal closed and Qrow was left alone.

He stood in silence for a moment before taking out his flask and taking a good gulp of it. "Dammit…" he cursed softly before a crow took flight and headed off into the horizon.

* * *

 **1~ Funhaus is something associated with** _ **Rooster Teeth**_ **, so I wanted the team that Naruto was on (Team FUNS) to pay homage to it.**

 **And there you are! I have successfully given you all an update of this story within a day of the** _ **Characters Reading**_ **version of it! A few of you complained that I wasn't focused enough on this, so I wanted to prove you all wrong.**

 **Selfish? Yes, yes it is.**

 **Did I deliver? I'd say "yes" again!** _ ***grinning***_

 **Anyway, I hope you all review and give me some excellent feedback for this chapter! Stay tuned for more, okay?**

 **Until next time!**

 _ **~pain17ification~**_


	6. Chapter 6: Where I Stand

**Okay, before I start this update, I needed to give HUGE thanks to** _ **Oturan Namikaze**_ **for generously making an Opening AND a Closing for this story! They turned out great, and I'm sure you all will like them too!**

 **Yosh! Now that I've given them MAJOR props, on with the story!**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **pain17ification**_ **owns nothing**

* * *

 **OPENING -** _ **Let's Just Live**_

The music starts with heavy beats as Naruto is seen with a golden Rasengan in his hand, glaring up at Sasuke who had a black Chidori in his hand. The two of them rush toward each other at incredible speed before they leap into the air, the camera focusing on the two attacks as they slam against each other, where a large explosion created by the collision consumes both Naruto and Sasuke. The screen zooms in close on Naruto as his arm is destroyed before he slowly closes his eyes with the light of the explosion slowly covering his face before coming to a halt.

 _ **[It used to feel like a fairy tale. Now it seems we were just pretending]**_

Naruto scrunches his eyes before opening them and the screen zooms out to reveal him wearing his new clothes and standing on top of a cliff. He brings up his right arm up as a breeze blows passed him, revealing it to be automail as he brushes hair from his face. A switch of view point shows that he is staring out at the City of Vale in the distance. A small smirk forms on his face before he feels something land on his shoulders and looks up to see Neo smiling down at him as she sits on his shoulders with her umbrella open and her eyes both changing to pink.

 _ **[We'd fix our world. Then on our way to a happy ending]**_

Behind the two, the screen focuses on Cinder, who could be seen standing under a tree with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face; the shadows of the tree slightly covering the upper part of her body. Emerald is standing next to her with a serious expression, staring at Naruto as well. A raven could be seen soaring through the air above them, Naruto looking up to see the bird do a spin before the screen changes to reveal a masked Raven standing somewhere dark with a hand on the hilt of her sword.

 _ **[Then it turned out life. Was far less like a bedtime story]**_

A small screen rotation goes around Raven's body and shows Qrow in an office with his scythe propped over his shoulder, turning his head to see Ozpin standing behind him with his hands resting on his cane. The scene quickly changes to Torchwick standing in a warehouse with a large Dust crystal in hand, Mercury standing off in the distance working on one of his robotic legs.

 _ **[Than a tragedy, With no big reveal of the hero's glory]**_

The image changes to Team RWBY and Team JNPR standing back to back before charging at an airborne Nevermore and a Death Stalker respectively with their weapons drawn. The screen focuses on Yang's face to reveal her red eyes, zooming into the iris before zooming out to reveal an unmasked Raven staring at Naruto, who's covered in a golden glow, with a pile of dead Grimm in the distance. The two slowly walk towards each other with Naruto raising his automail arm before clenching it into a fist and held it up to Raven, who was very slowly doing the same; both sharing a smirk.

 _ **[And it seems we weren't prepared. For a game that wasn't fair]**_

The focus turns to Naruto, who was now standing alone with the background turning dark. He perks his head up and spins around to see a white-skinned figure standing on top of a rock formation with Grimm crouched all around it. The screen trails up the rock to the very top where the figured is revealed to be Salem. The screen divides to show Naruto and Salem staring each other down; the two of them slowly becoming covered in their respective chakra/Aura. Naruto then leaps into the air with his chakra making him turn into his Six Paths Sage Mode

 _ **[Do we just go home? Can we follow through? When all hope is gone, there is one thing we can do]**_

The background behind Naruto changes once again and shows the emblems of the four Kingdoms of Remnant with the silhouettes of fighting being seen. The green image of Vale's emblem appearing before turning into the blue emblem of Mistral, shifting once again to the orange emblem of Vacuo for a few seconds before stopping on the white emblem of Atlas. The whiteness of the emblem over takes the background before a red flash cuts through the screen behind Naruto and the White Fang's emblem appears, glowing brightly behind him.

 _ **[Let's just live!]**_

Naruto narrows his eyes as he pulls his automail arm back and punches forwards. The fist stretches out with the Six Path's chakra covering it, slamming it into the ground where Grimm could be seen causing them all to go flying with the explosive impact.

 _ **[Day by day, and not be conquered by our sorrows]**_

Naruto wasn't finished however as he retracts his arm, pulls out his gun, and starts firing at the surrounding Grimm before ducking under the attack of a White Fang member, kicking them away as more surrounded him. Suddenly one of them gets knocked down to reveal a smirking Neo with her closed umbrella in hand, jumping next to Naruto to help him fight off the White Fang and the Grimm.

 _ **[The past can't hold us down, we must break free]**_

A blast of fire strikes down several of the Grimm making the two turn to see Cinder landing near them with Emerald by her side, a wave of fire dancing around her hand. Emerald then charges at the incoming Grimm and fights them off while Cinder uses her flames to incinerate any that get close to her, the screen doing a zoom in headshot to reveal her right eye glowing brightly as she brings her hand up and releases a wave of fire in front of her.

 _ **[Inside we're torn apart]**_

The screen changes to Beacon Academy's cafeteria where a grinning Cardin is pulling on one of Velvet's ears before Naruto suddenly appears from the side and grips Cardin's arm tightly, making the two turn their heads to see Naruto glaring at the leader of Team CRDL. Zooming in next to Naruto's head, the scene is replaced with a child version of himself could be seen crying into his hand while facing a large shadowy mob.

 _ **[But time will mend our hearts]**_

The scene shifts to smiling Naruto sitting on a grassy surface outside with the rest of Team FUNS joining him with a smiling Neo standing behind Naruto while resting her arms on his head. Cinder is sitting next to him with her legs crossed while Emerald is located on the other side of her, counting Lien in her hands with several empty wallets next to her. A Raven with red eyes could be seen flying over them before soaring towards the trees and covers the screen briefly.

 _ **[Move onward, not there yet. So, let's just live!]**_

Naruto slowly raises his automail arm up to the sky with his palm wide open, the screen trailing upwards, following his arm until it reaches the sky where the words _Sackcloth and Ashes_ appear; the raven seen behind the title in the horizon.

* * *

 _Sackcloth and Ashes_

 _Chapter Six: Where I Stand_

* * *

A pair of white eyes stared across the room, narrowing slightly at the sight of a familiar blonde twitching in his sleep, muttering denials and pleas while sweat falls down his face. Neo slowly got out of her bed and silently moved towards Naruto's bed, noting just how tightly his left hand was gripping the bedsheet. Absently, she noted that his mechanical arm was detached from his body and laying on the desk near his bed.

She placed her hand gently on his crippled arm, gripping it firmly while her eyes stayed their white shade. With her free hand, she reached over and cupped his cheek, softly rubbing where his whisker markings were. It seemed to help, for his twitches slowed to a stop while his mutters quieted down.

His head turned to hers, eyes opened and unfocused; showing he was still trying to get out of whatever nightmare he was having. "Don't go…" he whispered, his tone pleading; begging whoever he was seeing to adhere to his words.

Seeing this, and hearing the desperation in his voice, struck the petite woman hard. Her gaze softened as the hand on his cheek kept rubbing his whiskers softly. Making a decision, she climbed into his bed and laid down against him, her head resting against his chest as she whispered back, "I won't…" Slowly, his calming heartbeat lulled her back to sleep, and she held onto him tightly in hopes he would sleep peacefully.

Unknown to her, a pair of narrowed amber eyes glowed in the darkness of the room as the owner witnessed the sentimental moment.

* * *

A couple hours later, Naruto began to stir; which Neo felt due to his chest rumbling slightly. While she enjoyed the warmth he gave off, she let go of the blonde and got off his bed. Grabbing her school uniform – something she found to be very bland – she headed for the bathroom to shower and change.

Blue eyes blinked open, getting focused on their surroundings before Naruto sighed softly. "Another one…" he mumbled.

"If you have trouble sleeping," he heard Cinder speak up, making him turn to see her adjusting her own uniform, "you can always talk to us about it. You can confide in us, Naruto. After all," she looked to him with her signature smirk, "we're legitimate teammates now."

He gave a small hum at her words while Emerald yawned awake. "Damn, how long was I out?" she groused.

"About six hours," Cinder answered. "You fell asleep before I did."

"How the hell are you so… _up_ in the mornings?"

"Years of practice," was the slightly cheeky response.

Naruto got out of his own bed, slightly surprising the girls when they noticed he was only wearing a black nightshirt and some green boxers with pink hearts. He saw their stares and looked down at his sleepwear before shrugging casually. "This is what I sleep in," he defended plainly.

"Duly noted," Emerald replied awkwardly, mentally warring with herself. A large part of her still held a grudge against him, but a small part thought that he was attractive.

"Nice hearts," Cinder complimented teasingly.

He ignored it as he grabbed his new school uniform, making a face at how boring it looked. "…We don't _really_ have to wear this every day, do we?"

"Unfortunately, yes. It's school clothing, and while we're here, we will follow the school guidelines so that we don't draw attention to ourselves."

"I'm wondering why Ozpin seems to know you," Naruto commented, making her raise a slender brow. "During the team assignments, he seemed kinda reluctant to name us a team."

"We have different viewpoints and methods on bringing about change to Remnant," she answered smoothly. "He takes his own path while I forge my own."

"…He also spoke to me before we were launched into that forest."

"Oh? And what did he have to say?"

Frowning, the whiskered blonde answered, "He wished me good luck and reminded me how partners were chosen."

"Nothing else?"

"Nope. My guess is that he has suspicions about me already knowing you and he was getting his own _first impression_."

"That sounds like him," Emerald spoke up, sharing a look with her boss.

"Yes, it does. Be careful around that man, Naruto. He thinks he knows many things; but he's actually pretty narrowminded."

"Yeah, I think I saw what you mean," he agreed, mentally thinking back on Raven's warning to him about Ozpin.

Neo cut into their chat by stepping out of the bathroom, dressed in her uniform and looking pouty. She shared a look with Naruto, tugging at her red ribbon while her eyes turned brown.

"Yeah, I know," Naruto sighed out in agreement, sending another dirty look at his own uniform before going into the restroom to change.

* * *

Naruto was officially bored out of his mind as the _portly_ Professor Port went on a tangent about his youth; throwing in his own extravagance to his tales. The blonde Uzumaki could tell right off the bat that the man was full or crap; but he said nothing.

Instead, he gave a soft groan and leaned back in his seat. Looking to his right, he saw that Neo was passing time by doodling in her notebook; her drawings consisting of Grimm from her own imagination. He had to smirk at the incredibly detailed drawing of a foxlike Grimm with nine tails.

 _'Gee, I wonder where she got the idea for_ that _one?'_ he mused sarcastically, chuckling to himself.

Neo heard him and smirked before resuming her shading. Next to her, Cinder raised a brow at the closeness between them, as well as the Grimm her subordinate was drawing. It was much too detailed to be a whimsical idea; which could only mean that the multi-tailed fox was connected to Naruto in some manner.

Emerald, who sat next to Cinder and she was passing time thinking of clever ways to pickpocket the other students without getting caught. Old habits die hard, and each new method added some restrictions or _rules_ she had to follow. It was a good way to mentally test herself.

"Now, who here among you shares those qualities?" Port called out, referring to the qualities that professional Huntsmen and Huntresses need to have; at least in his opinion.

He eyed the room, spotting the young Schnee heiress looking eager to prove herself; as well as a couple others. However, he and the other members of the staff had been told of a certain Freshman who had caught the eye of certain unsavory parties. As such, they had been asked to keep a closer eye on him, and what better way than volunteering him for a demonstration?

"Mr. Uzumaki," he stated, making the blonde turn his blue eyes to the man. "Perhaps you'd like to show your mettle? After all, if you could survive a loss of limb, a simple demonstration should be a breeze, yes?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes in annoyance, already figuring out what the man wanted; or at least, what he was _asked_ to do. With a sigh, he got out of his seat and walked down the steps, hands in his pockets and posture slouched like a certain lazy genius he knew.

"Fine," he replied, sounding just as bored as Shikamaru always did. He stood next to Port and faced the class, letting them all see what he thought of this situation.

To his amusement, he saw that the white-haired girl he bumped into the other morning looked downright pissed at his boredom. Some students looked confused at his posture while others looked concerned, focusing on his replacement arm. The other members of Team RWBY, Pyrrha, and his own teammates looked confident in his abilities; especially his team.

"Are you ready?" Port asked preparing to open an enclosed cage that was shaking violently.

"Let's get on with it," Naruto answered, taking a relaxed stance. He fought a snort at the concern on the teacher's face, ignoring it in favor of the Boarbatusk that was released. It gave angered snorts and jerked around, turning its fierce gaze to everyone else in the room. "Oi," he called, earning its attention. "Focus right here, Porky. Forget about them and focus on me."

The students were surprised at this, wondering why he was calling out the Grimm. But, what confused them further, was how the Boarbatusk looked confounded and stayed in place; simply eyeing the blonde before it.

"Well?" Naruto taunted. "You gonna just stand there?"

* * *

 _"Or are you gonna show me what you got?"_

The dark woman from before smirked at the words she heard through one of her Grimm. Closing her eyes, she focused on its senses and got her first real glimpse of the mysterious newcomer.

"My, my…" she mused, a smirk forming on her lips. "He looks so young; but that power he has – that radiance – is intriguing. Very well then, Newcomer." Her eyes gave a brief glow as she mentally told the Grimm to attack. "Show me what _you_ have."

* * *

The Grimm gave a battle cry and tucked in on itself, spinning in place to gain momentum before shooting forward at high velocity. Blue eyes gleamed faintly and a smirk formed on Naruto's lips as he muttered, "Good…"

Only Blake, due to her feline ears, was able to hear him. She frowned at him, wondering why in the world he was so eager to have the Grimm fight.

The whole room saw his stay in place, still looking relaxed and calm; which made the students either think he was crazy or overconfident. So, it shocked them all when he casually raised his right leg and caught the spinning Grimm with the bottom of his sandals; the only change he made to his uniform. Eyes widened one by one, and jaws were dropping when they saw him tense his leg and force it down, having the Boarbatusk dig into the floor and bury itself enough to become stuck.

Seeing it immobilized, Naruto nodded to himself and stepped back as he said to himself, "But, not good enough."

Blake, once again, was the only one who heard him. She was just as surprised as the others at how easy he made it look to take down the Grimm. But, shock gave way for a small smile; showing that she was proud of her fellow Faunus and his display of raw strength. _'You're crazy, Naruto… But, you have the power to back it up; no doubt about that.'_

Turning his focus to the Professor, Naruto asked, "How's that?"

"The Grimm is still alive," Port pointed out, bringing attention back to the creature that was left unable to move; only twitch in agitation.

"It isn't going anywhere," Naruto rebutted, casually heading back to his seat. "Besides, the Grimm aren't the biggest threat out there."

That statement unnerved the students, and a select few understood what his words meant. Cinder couldn't help but smirk at that, finding the irony in his statement to be amusing.

"Even so, the Grimm are dangerous, and one shouldn't hesitate," Port drew his weapon, shifted it into its firearm mode, and shot the Boarbatusk, "to take them out."

Naruto turned back to the wisps of the killed Grimm before he shook his head in disappointment. "An outdated way of thinking, if you ask me."

"I beg your pardon?" Port's eyes narrowed, though it was hard to tell since they were practically closed all the time.

"Nothing," Naruto retracted, his voice firmer than before. "Forget I said anything."

The class after his demonstration had an uneasy tension for its remainder.

* * *

"So, what did you mean earlier?" Blake asked Naruto as she sat at his table during lunch. Her teammates were sharing a table with Team JNPR, and the rest of Team FUNS were obviously seated where he was.

"About…?"

"About killing Grimm being _outdated_ ," she clarified.

"Oh, that." He went silent for a moment, and she assumed he was collecting his thoughts. "Not many people understand just _what_ the Grimm are. They see the Grimm only as a _darkness_ that seeks to kill anything _good_ or _just_." He shook his head at that, scoffing at the notion. "I see the Grimm differently, and I blame the rest of the world – and their outdated ideals – for their existence in the first place."

His teammates found his explanation odd, which was why they stayed silent to listen. Blake wasn't so silent as she asked, "Why do you blame everyone else? What could you possibly see the Grimm as other than what we've believed for years?"

"I see them as part of a whole," he answered cryptically, staring her dead in her amber orbs and making her fight a flinch at their intensity. "Remnant, the world we all live in, is like a body. The earth and waters of the world are its bones and veins, while the life it holds – from plants to living, breathing things – are its blood."

She blinked at this before slowly, unsurely nodding. "…Okay…"

"At times, a body becomes sick, and it starts to repair itself on its own; like antibodies attacking a virus. So, take a moment to think, Blake." His expression was serious, and she couldn't help but see how his eyes took on the world with a focus much older than his age entailed. "If _life_ and _nature_ are the blood of Remnant, what do you call the Four Kingdoms and their senseless disregard for forests and other natural wildlands just to expand their own habitats?"

"…You're talking as if humans and Faunus are nothing more than beasts," she noted, her eyes narrowed.

"Not beasts, Blake; a virus."

Cinder raised a brow at this, interested in how he came to that conclusion. Emerald found herself uneasy with the notion, part of her unable to fully disagree with the whiskered blonde. And Neo frowned thoughtfully, her eyes both turning brown as she considered his words.

As for Blake, her eyes gave an enraged glow. "How could you think that?"

"Because the Grimm only attack things that are manmade," he calmly answered, stifling her growing rage. "Take a moment to consider it without the ideals and beliefs of others before you clouding _your_ judgment. Have the Grimm ever attacked wildlife? Have they ever deprived the forests of their trees, or drained the rivers dry? Have they burrowed into the earth, taking things that don't belong to them?"

"B-But they-"

"Blake," he cut off sternly, the blues of his eyes taking a glacial edge. "Think for yourself for once. Don't let others dictate your own opinions." He dropped his voice for her sake as he added, "You wanted to change your ways, right?" Her eyes widened and she nearly recoiled at his words. " _Change_ starts with yourself; not with the teachings of others."

Amber eyes looked down at that, staring at nothing as she thought about what he had said. It was a lot to take in.

"Stop that, please! That hurts!" a female voice, one that held a distinct accent to it, cried out.

The voice broke Blake out of her thoughts and she, along with many others, turned to see a Faunus girl with rabbit ears having one of said ears being cruelly clutched and tugged by an arrogant looking teen. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she recognized him from the day of team placements. He was Cardin Winchester, leader of Team CRDL and a human who wasn't afraid to speak his mind and his dislike of Faunus.

"As I said," Blake heard Naruto speak again, turning to see him staring blankly at Cardin's bullying of the Faunus girl, "outdated ideals and beliefs." Calmly, he stood up from his seat and began to stalk towards the jerk.

"Naruto," Cinder called, making him look over his shoulder with a raised brow. Smirking, she bid, "Make a statement, would you?"

For once, he shared her smirk and nodded before resuming his path.

"I told you it was real!" Cardin boasted with a laugh, tugging Velvet Scarlatina's ear once again. "What a freak!"

His teammates laughed alongside him while Velvet once again pleaded for Cardin to let go of her ear. Mentally, she was pleading for someone to help her while also angrily wondering why _none_ of the staff were stepping in. Wasn't Beacon supposed to be a school that was open to _everyone_?

Her pleas were answered when a metal hand gripped Cardin's arm, the clawed digits poking dangerously against the bully's skin. "That'll be enough of that," she heard a male voice speak calmly, and she turned as much as she could to see a blonde teen with incredibly deep blue eyes that were narrowed on Cardin.

"Oh yeah?" taunted Cardin while his teammates got ready to assist him. "Who says?"

"The guy who's about to snap your arm like a twig," Naruto answered coolly, leaking his chakra slightly to enhance his presence while putting some pressure on the arm in his mechanical hand.

Fighting a wince, Cardin held firm onto Velvet's ear. "I'd like to see you- AGH!"

He gave a shout of surprise and pain as the grip on his arm tightened and the metal claws dug into is skin enough to draw blood. The force of the grip also made Cardin release _his_ grip on Velvet's ear. "Try?" finished the Uzumaki. "I just did, and you know what?" He dragged Cardin towards him, glaring him in the eyes while his blues turned amber with horizontal pupils. "I'd say I'm close to succeeding," the pressure on Cardin's arm increased, forcing him to his knees, "wouldn't you?"

His teammates made to help him, but a stern voice clearing her throat had them all turn to see Glynda standing there with her arms crossed. "I believe that fighting is prohibited in the lunch halls, correct?"

Letting go of Cardin's arm and retracting his claws, Naruto answered, "Yeah, you are. Though, I wonder where you were earlier, _Professor_?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, not appreciating his tone. "And what do you mean by _that_ , Mr. Uzumaki?"

"Just being a curious student is all," he shrugged before heading back to his table.

"I'll see you _and_ Mr. Winchester in detention after classes, Mr. Uzumaki."

He merely waved her off with his natural arm, leaving the lunch hall shocked at his blatant disrespect for the woman. His teammates, however, found the whole moment hilarious; the three women all smirking at how the blonde ninja got under Glynda's skin. As for Blake, she sent a silent thanks to Naruto for helping a fellow Faunus; though, a part of her also wondered what he pointed out.

If someone responded so quickly to a human _in pain_ , why was no one around when a _Faunus_ was the one in pain?

* * *

"That boy has no respect for authority," Glynda seethed in Ozpin's office, pacing angrily at a certain blonde's words. "Honestly, the nerve of him to call me out on something like this."

"He has every right to speak his mind," Ozpin defended. "Just as you are doing right now, if I might add."

"How can you defend him?"

"Because he made a valid point, Glynda," the Headmaster calmly answered. "Ms. Scarlatina was being unfairly treated by a fellow student in our school grounds, and not one of our staff stepped in to stop that mistreatment. Personally, I find punishing Mr. Uzumaki for helping a fellow student – who is a Faunus just like him – to be a tad unjust."

"You can't honestly think that?" she asked in slight surprise.

"Oh, but I do. After all, he was right; no one stepped in to help a Faunus student, but someone did when it was a _human_ student. The situation might have just become more sensitive, now that a student has called us out on our practices. We may be seen as prejudicial now, and other Faunus students will no doubt lose faith in the school's ability to offer them equal rights and privileges."

Glynda wanted to argue, but she took a moment to rationally go over the situation. She frowned at the truth, seeing how the impact on the school could be possibly devastating in the long run.

"We need to take steps to reassure our students that they are _all_ equal within Beacon's walls. Otherwise, this situation may spiral out of control," Ozpin grimly declared, earning a stiff nod from his trusted aide.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Detention was rather dull, in Naruto's opinion. It was simply him, Cardin, and any other troublemakers sitting in a room silently with Glynda keeping a watchful eye on them. He passed the time by doing the assignments that were given throughout the day, finishing them all rather quickly since it was the first day of school.

Once detention was over, the students were allowed to go, and were given a stern warning to behave from now on. "Mr. Uzumaki," Glynda called to him. "A word, please?"

Raising a brow, he sat back down as the other students leave, easily ignoring the smug slash angry look that Cardin sent his way. Once they were alone, he asked, "Am I in more trouble?"

"No," she answered, leaning back against the teacher's desk. "It's come to our attention that we may have been unfair in regards to the situation between you and Mr. Winchester. While he received detention just as you did, you wouldn't have needed such a punishment if someone had stepped in to assist Ms. Scarlatina."

"Right… And this is your way of apologizing, right?" he questioned, slightly annoyed.

She fought a frown at his tone. "Yes, it is. Beacon is meant to be an open school, and we…failed to fully uphold that declaration."

 _'It is just_ killing _her to admit this,'_ mused the displaced ninja with a mental chuckle. He had a gift for sticking it to the _strict_ types.

"As such, we will be sure to do better. I felt that you, as a Faunus looking out for your own, should know that."

He hummed at her words, standing up slowly. "Well…as much as I appreciate the _pretty words_ ," she couldn't stop the frown this time, "I think they're being wasted on me. After all," he made his way out of the room, looking over his shoulder at the exit, "I wasn't the one being mistreated, was I?"

And with that, he was gone, leaving Glynda silently fuming at his nerve.

* * *

Lounging in his team's dorm room, Naruto mused aloud, "I think I may have gotten under that woman's skin…"

"You think?" sarcastically replied Emerald with a smirk. "She looked ready to rip you a new one when you called her out in the cafeteria."

"It's not like what I said wasn't true," he fired back, matching her smirk.

"I'm curious about what you were talking about with that old partner of Adam's," Cinder cut in.

"About Remnant and the Grimm?" She nodded once. "It's something I've been thinking about since I was in Mountain Glenn," he answered honestly, thinking back on the memory of Raven's that he had viewed. "That's the _change_ I want to make; to have people make their own damn decisions and see things beyond what people simply tell them."

"Interesting," mused the woman. "That'll be a challenge, no doubt."

"Life is a challenge," he fired back, showing the wisdom he had gained through years of struggle and pain. "The _real_ challenge, though, is standing tall against them; staying true to your own beliefs and ideals. All it takes is guts."

He smiled softly at that, remembering Jiraiya's words to him.

"Some ideals can stay strong throughout the years; but if there are those that are just wrong or plain stupid, then they need to be removed so that newer, more open ones can take their place."

"You sound like you've been waiting to say that," Emerald noted with amusement.

"Maybe… But, I know where I stand…" He looked to the ceiling of the room, his smile remaining as he thought of every moment his Nindo was put to the test. "And that's with my beliefs; with peace."

Cinder and Emerald blinked in surprise at that, not expecting such an answer. However, having seen enough parts of his life to understand, Neo wasn't surprised and simply smiled softly; mentally promising that she would support him when the time came.

That was where _she_ stood.

* * *

 **ENDING –** _ **Black Night Town**_

 _ **[City Lights disappears at midnight/Gozen reiji akari kieta machi]**_

The sounds of a guitar could be heard as an image of the ruins of Mountain Glenn could be seen, slowly trailing across the image as a few Creatures of Grimm could be seen on the streets.

 _ **[Today we're dancing in Tipsy Night/ Koyoi wa odore Tipsy Night]**_

Another image of the abandoned city streets show more destroyed buildings and even more Grimm prowling around. At the words _Tipsy Night_ , the music starts to pick up and the screen turns black. Nine ripples appear on the screen before the music continues. After a few seconds, the screen changes to a specific mountainside near the city ruins.

 _ **[There is no moonlight in this town/ Tsukiakari mo todokanu basho ni wa]**_

The screen reaches a cave before zooming inside to reveal a lone male figure sitting against the wall, covered in dirt, blood, and torn clothes while missing his right arm.

 _ **[And only loneliness is here/ Kodoku sae mo utau machi ga aru]**_

The figure is revealed to be Naruto wearing his ruined clothes, staring blankly at the ashes that had once been a small fire. A gust of wind blows into the cave and makes his hair move about, before suddenly Naruto falls to his side.

 _ **[The painful trembling is breaking the peace/ Kuruisō na furuesō na itami dake ga]**_

Trailing up his body as he lies on the floor, the image focuses on the damage done to Naruto's body throughout the Fourth Great Ninja War and his final fight with Sasuke.

 _ **[The city is like a Lost Pearl/ Kowaresō na nakushisō na hōseki da]**_

Zooming in close to Naruto's face, a dead look could be seen in his eyes as he depressingly stares out into space before closing his eyes. A lone tear forms before falling down his cheek to the floor, hitting the ground as the screen turns black and more ripples appear at the same time as the music picks up.

 _ **[That cannot be bought nor be deprived/ Kuraberareru koto nado ubawareru koto nado nai]**_

A tinted image of Naruto and Sasuke appears on the screen as they are staring up at Kaguya with Sakura and Kakashi standing behind them. The images changes to Sasuke and Naruto staring at each other with Sasuke's hand clapped together, nine large orbs holding the Tailed Beasts hovering above their heads. A quick image of Naruto's wide trembling eye before it narrowa as the image changes to him standing on Hashirama's head at the Valley of the End, staring at Sasuke who was on Madara's head.

 _ **[You can be yourself, let me see your laugh/ Kimi wa kimi de ī, sā waratte misete]**_

The screen turns completely black as Naruto's blond hair could be seen lifting to reveal the dead look on his face, before the camera zooms out to show dozens of Grimm crouching protectively around him as they stare at the camera.

 _ **[With no reason, with no thought, it's.../ Nani mo kangaezutomo soko ni riyū ga nakutomo]**_

A short video of Naruto and Sasuke when they first fought appears on the screen with Naruto holding a Rasengan while Sasuke was wielding a Chidori. The screen focusing on Naruto as he charges at Sasuke. As the two met in the middle, the two quickly grow older and their weapons change to Naruto wielding a brass knuckle-knife while Sasuke has his sword.

 _ **[It's called new great beginning/ Sore koso ga subarashī hajimari]**_

As the two clash weapons, the screen whitens as images of all his comrades flash through Naruto's mind while he and Sasuke continue to fight. When the screen turns completely white, it reveals Naruto opening his eyes and turning to see Cinder standing a few feet away from him with Neo behind her, a comforting yet calculative smirk forms on her face as she holds out a hand to him.

 _ **[So, there comes the dawn/ Sā, yoake da]**_

A final ripple forms on the screen before transitioning to Naruto and Cinder standing outside of the cave, both watching as the light of the sunrise starting to rise in the distance. A small smile forms on Naruto's face as he, Cinder, and Neo start walking away from the cave.

 _ **[Town lights disappears at midnight/ Gozen reiji akari kieta machi]**_

Once again, the images of the city appear and stretch out to show the ruins; only this time there aren't any Grimm in sight as the sunlight hits the buildings.

 _ **[And looking back The Black Night Town invites us again/ Furikaereba sasou Black Night Town]**_

With one last look at the cave, the screen zooms out to show all of Mountain Glenn with the yellow-orange rays of the sun cutting through the night's darkness. From a different view point, the sun's light could be seen peeking through a building window and landing on a pile of Naruto's ruined clothes with his headband resting on top of it.

* * *

 **And that's the end of this chapter! Next time, I'm going to have a certain Team getting brutally curb stomped in the most humiliating way! I'm sure it'll be something to look forward to!**

 **Naruto's making some waves already, and it's only been _one day_ of class! Just how much impact will these starting waves have in the future? You'll have to stay tuned to see!**

 **Once again, major thanks to** _ **Oturan Namikaze**_ **for making the opening and ending for this story! Thanks a bunch!**

 **Until next time!**

 _ **~pain17ification~**_


	7. Chapter 7: Reality Check

**Okay… So, last chapter had a very negative response to the opening and closing themes I requested someone to make for me. I can understand why such a thing would mess up a story's flow, but that doesn't mean that so many people need to be overly critical about it.**

 **Honestly, the things I read in the reviews and what they thought of it nearly had me** _ **lose my shit**_ **. Criticize my work and talk bad about it; but, when you criticize someone** _ **else's**_ **hard work that I accepted and used, I get rather pissed.**

 **Having said that, I will not be dropping this story, removing the opening/closing, or ranting about this any longer. I get it; you guys didn't like it. I won't be doing anything like that again.**

 **So, I'm gonna drop the issue and ask** _ **nicely**_ **that nobody brings it up again or talks bad about what** _ **Oturan Namikaze**_ **made for me. It's unfair to them.**

 **Thank you for your time.**

 **Now, on with the update.**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **pain17ification**_ **owns nothing**

* * *

 _Sackcloth and Ashes_

 _Chapter Seven: Reality Check_

* * *

Sitting on the rooftop of Beacon's dorm building, Naruto was browsing through his scroll as he tried to get a better understanding of it. Back home, technology was nowhere near the level that Remnant had at its disposal. The best form of technology involving communication for the shinobi world were frequency radios that had limited distance; and that tech was apparently rather basic in the eyes of Remnant's society.

So, he decided to get a better handle on his scroll, looking through the many menus and applications. He even browsed a few things on what people called the _Internet_. Out of curiosity, he tried to look up the Hidden Villages, chakra, or ninja in general. To his misfortune, there wasn't anything about those things; except for a rather mediocre view on _ninja_ based on media.

Honestly, while black suits and hiding in the shadows _helped_ , they didn't _define_ the ninja world. It was insulting!

He sighed and looked up at the broken moon, studying it without any real focus whatsoever. He couldn't sleep, and he used fiddling with his scroll as an excuse to stay awake. He could always lay down and wait for sleep in his dorm, but there was always a chance of another nightmare from either the war, the fight with Kaguya, or his ultimate clash with Sasuke.

He rubbed the stump of his right arm that was capped with the part meant for attaching his fake arm. He doubted that he'd ever get used to it completely, but it was still better than wasting chakra to make a temporary one.

The scroll in his hand buzzed and lit up, catching his eye as he saw that he was receiving a call from an unknown caller; not even a number being seen. Shrugging to himself, he accepted the call and saw, to his slight surprise, Raven's face on the screen.

 _"Glad I caught you when you were awake."_

"You sure it's a good idea to be calling me on my scroll? The school could've found a way to listen in, after all."

 _"True, but I'm using an encryption. Ozpin won't be listening in on our chats."_

"You seem to have some real beef with that guy… I caught glimpses of you and him during our fight weeks ago, but never enough to figure out why."

 _"…It's personal,"_ she replied with a straight face. _"It has a lot to do with Summer's death."_

That caught his interest, but he said nothing. "I'll respect your privacy, then."

 _"I appreciate it. So, looks like you and that Fall girl are on the same team."_

"Along with two of her associates. Although, I think I managed to bring one over to my side…"

 _"Based on your tone, I take it you're not too thrilled about that."_

"I just don't like to view or talk about people as if they're objects. Saying things like _my side_ makes me feel…calculating. Like I manipulated her, or something."

 _"And how did you pull it off?"_

"Same way I was able to get you to talk to me instead of kill me; I linked my heart to hers."

 _"You fought her?"_ Raven asked with a raised brow.

"Nah, I initiated the link by bumping my fist to hers. The link we had was rougher, considering the circumstances."

 _"I see. So, when you made the link with her in a calmer setting, the process of sharing memories was more fluid. Am I right?"_

"You're definitely smarter than most people, Raven," Naruto confirmed with a smirk, slightly praising the woman. "Anyway, I saw what made Neo who she is today, and she saw glimpse of what my life was like. Since then, she's been much easier to interact with; but, I can tell that whatever feelings of _loyalty_ she has for Cinder are fading." He frowned at his words again.

 _"I can understand why you dislike saying things like that. Hearing you say them is, admittedly, off putting for me as well."_

"So glad that you understand me," he replied sarcastically.

At that, she chuckled and shook her head in amusement. _"At least you haven't changed from that knucklehead you were back then…"_

"…That knucklehead was forced to grow up during a war that cost many lives."

 _"Even so, the war may have left some scars; but, I can see that you're still_ you _deep down. I may have only seen glimpses or flashes of your life, but that's enough to understand who you are; how you face life."_

He smiled hollowly at her words. "Sometimes…I don't feel like myself."

 _"Scars may never heal, but that doesn't mean that we can't move past them. You have a goal to accomplish, right? Focus on that, and you'll slowly get better."_

"I know… Thanks for reminding me, though. I needed it."

 _"Good. Now, I gotta get going. I was mainly calling to test the connection between this encryption and your scroll. I'll call again soon."_

"How will I know it's you?"

She smirked at him as her crimson eyes flashed in the light on her end. _"Trust me; you'll know,"_ was her response before she ended the call.

Naruto hummed at that before pocketing his scroll and looking back up at the moon. "My goal, huh?" he muttered. "…I wonder if I'll ever meet it in this world or time."

* * *

Once again, Naruto and the others found themselves sitting together during one of Beacon Academy's various classes. This one was History and was taught by Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck, a green-haired man who was over six and a half feet tall and was never seen without his thermos in his hand. From what Naruto could smell, it was filled with coffee; _strong_ coffee.

Currently, the man was going over the history of Faunus Rights Revolution, a war that was sparked when the Faunus rebelled against being secluded to the island kingdom of Menagerie. The name itself was insulting in Naruto's opinion, the meaning behind it referring to the Faunus as nothing more than animals.

It further forced home how their race and Jinchūriki were treated so similarly. He had to take many breaths to calm down throughout the _lesson_ , struggling not to explode in a tirade. He needed to keep his cover, and an emotional outburst was bound to reveal a past that would make no sense.

His teammates saw his tense posture and had varying reactions. Emerald was surprisingly supportive; though that was because she had a rough past of her own. While nowhere _near_ as difficult as Faunus, she respected the race for revolting against adversity.

Cinder outwardly showed nothing, but mentally was smirking at gaining another piece to the puzzle that was the blonde Uzumaki. She knew he held power, knew he had survived a war, and knew his past was harsh; but she didn't know the _details_ of those things. So, she would take any hint or notation she could get.

As for Neo, she frowned at her partner's frustration and how he was forcing himself to stay silent. Out of the three women, she knew him the most. She saw his past, his sadness and pain, his discrimination within his own home. If anyone could understand the Faunus best, she knew it was him.

Reaching over, she placed a hand on his knee and squeezed it to show her support. He looked down to her and saw her giving him a faint smile instead of her usual smirk. Giving a hint of a smile in return, he nodded faintly before returning his attention to Oobleck.

"Mr. Uzumaki," the man called out, staring at the young man that Ozpin had asked the staff to keep an eye on. "Not to call you out on your racial standing, but how do you feel things could've been handled concerning humans and Faunus?"

"…You don't want to know my answer," Naruto replied after a pause.

"Oh, but I do," he assured before addressing the class as a whole. "I've seen how frustrated many of you became as I went over the history of the Revolution. I'd like to know what any of you would've suggested to those in charge at the time. How would you have handled it if _you_ were in charge? Would you simply conform to how it happened, or would you change it?"

He eyed the students, observing how many of them became thoughtful while others looked bored with the lesson. That just made him shake his head in disappointment, not understanding how students didn't see how studying history prevented its mistakes from repeating themselves.

"There was a time," he heard someone speak up, turning to Naruto who was looking down, "when I would've answered that forgiveness and understanding were needed to stop the discrimination. But, I've realized over the years that people will still hold hate in their hearts; and that hate will fester and grow as they see that retribution for their pain hasn't been achieved."

"That's true, unfortunately," Oobleck affirmed solemnly.

"So…what the world needs is a common threat," Naruto continued, catching the attention of the other students; even the ones that once looked bored. "They need a reason to set aside their differences and unite together. In that alliance – even if it's temporary – bonds can begin, and the hate could slowly be filtered away by the camaraderie."

"And what threat would you say is common enough to unite two races that have a history of war and hatred?" the green-haired doctor pressed, mentally noting everything the young man was saying.

"There already is one; the Grimm."

That answer made Oobleck come up short; but the students had other responses.

"What?"

"You can't be serious?"

"I've fought loads of Grimm! They're not so tough!"

"Maybe you would need the help, but not us!"

Naruto took their rebuttals silently, having said his piece. Beside him, Team FUNS stared down anyone who gave their teammate annoyed or superior looks. The class soon devolved into arguing amongst themselves, debating whether or not the Grimm were really as threatening as the Uzumaki had declared.

As for Oobleck, he smiled behind his thermos as he took another drink of his beloved coffee. _'Interesting response, Mr. Uzumaki. I wonder if you realize how right you are about the world facing a_ common threat _…'_

* * *

After a couple more classes, it was once again lunch period at Beacon. Naruto was seated at a table with his team, Blake once again sitting across from him.

"What was that earlier in Oobleck's class?" she asked curiously.

"Was I wrong?" he asked back rhetorically. "If there _was_ a common threat that _equally_ targeted Humans and Faunus, do you think they would still cling to past hatred and ideals?"

"Yes," she answered immediately, frowning distastefully. "It would become a survival of the fittest world where everyone looks out for themselves."

"You're generalizing, Blake," he admonished calmly, giving her a faint smile. "Faunus and Humans aren't such broad races that they _all_ share similar ideals. Take you and I, for example."

"Our situations are different…"

"You're searching for an argument that isn't there, Blake. You, me, and all the other Faunus students here at Beacon _chose_ to attend a school that primarily has a Human student body. We've _chosen_ to interact, engage, and intermingle with Humans to better ourselves; to create our own futures."

She wanted to argue, but his words made sense. "…It isn't much easier," she muttered.

"True, but nothing worth pursuing is _easy_. It's the things that demand blood, sweat, tears, and guts that are the most important; such as better rights for the Faunus," he declared with his smile still in place.

Cinder chose this moment to speak up. "That sounds like it's _her_ goal, though. What exactly is your goal, Naruto?"

"I'd like to know also," Blake added.

"My goal?" he repeated. "I want to get back home…"

"Home?" the RWBY member asked in surprise. "Why can't you?"

She felt that was a bad question when she saw his eyes gain a hollowed look. "…It's complicated."

Neo frowned as she ate her lunch, nudging Naruto with her leg underneath the table. The two shared a look, her eyes both turning white to enhance her frown. Nothing was said for a few moments before Naruto sighed in defeat.

"Yeah, yeah… I know, already," he grumbled while Neo smirked in satisfaction, returning to her lunch.

"It's still amazing how you two can say so much while _not talking_ ," Emerald noted in amusement. "Care to translate, Whiskers?"

Blake frowned at the nickname, finding it slightly racist. Naruto waved her off before turning back to Emerald. "She's reminding me not to brood so much."

"And she's right," Cinder remarked. "Such an expression doesn't suit someone as _bright_ as you." She smirked at her hidden reference to his golden chakra, which earned a dull look from the Uzumaki at the rather lame pun.

"Moving on… The next class has sparring, right?" he asked, earning a nod from Blake.

"Yeah. It's taught by Professor Goodwitch."

"Joy, the class I look forward to more than the rest, and it's taught by the woman I pissed off yesterday…"

The sarcasm in his voice was palpable.

"I think she didn't like the fact that you called her and the rest of the faculty out," Emerald noted with a smirk. "She seems like the strict, prudish type who doesn't like to be outdone by _children_."

"No, that's not it," Cinder shot down, her own smirk in place as she took a drink of water. "She just hates to have her flaws thrown in her face."

"Prideful," Neo added, catching Blake off guard.

"Wait, you _can_ talk?" she asked in surprise.

Neo simply smirked as her eyes both turned pink.

"Don't let it get to you," Cinder suggested to the Faunus girl. "She likes to mess with everyone; even her friends."

"R-Right…"

"Looks like your team is calling you," Emerald spoke up, jabbing a thumb towards RWBY's table, where the young team leader was waving Blake over excitedly.

"Looks that way. I'll talk to you all later," Blake bid, giving Naruto a smile in farewell.

Now alone, Cinder turned to the blonde and asked, "Any reason why you're getting so close to her?"

"Possessive, are we?" Naruto teased, making the Fall woman blink in surprise at the fact he _was_ teasing her. "She's like me when I was younger. She chose the harder path when she got to her personal crossroad; but, that doesn't mean she can't stumble and fall back."

"Personal crossroad?" Emerald repeated.

"Growing up, I could've chosen to give into my hatred and become the _monster_ that I was seen as." Neo frowned once again, knowing what he was referring to. "However, I chose to _understand_ and _forgive_ those who hurt me, wanting to win them over through my own efforts."

"Hating them would've been easier…" Cinder noted.

"Like I told Blake; nothing worth pursuing is easy."

The three women nodded in understanding, and Cinder smirked once more at him. "This is rather generous of you, Naruto. Usually, you keep your past close to your chest. Does interacting with Miss Belladonna make you feel like sharing?"

"That's not it… I just think it's not entirely fair to you if I kept so many secrets. You've kept your end of the deal and helped me find another purpose. I said I would become a partner to you, so I'll tell you all more about me later. Just don't expect me to spill my guts all at once."

"I can respect that," she replied, standing up to place her empty tray on the rack. "Shall we head towards our next class?"

"Sounds exciting," Emerald drawled out dryly. "How much am I going to need to hold back on these guys?"

"Careful now," Naruto warned with his own smirk. "You never know if one of these kids will catch you by surprise. A few of them already caught _me_ by surprise."

"Really?" Cinder asked with interest, only to see Naruto's smirk grow faintly.

"Of course. I was surprised at how stupid and arrogant that Cardin guy and his team were regarding Human _superiority_ over Faunus."

Neo snickered at that while Emerald snorted out a laugh and Cinder actually _smiled_ in amusement. "I suppose we _should_ be careful then," she agreed in jest.

* * *

"Well, so far, it looks like only a few of our _classmates_ have decent combat skills," Naruto mused, leaning back from his position on the academy bleachers. "Blake's team looks the best so far; them and Pyrrha, at least."

"Well, it isn't really fair to compare the Invincible Girl to her classmates," Cinder noted in amusement.

"Pft! Titles mean shit on the field. Even a man with godly power can be taken down by a _mortal_ man," he waved off, remembering his fight with Nagato and his Six Paths of Pain.

Glynda was seen frowning as the match between Cardin and Jaune ended with the blonde's loss. "Mr. Arc, in the future, _try_ to be more mindful of your Aura levels. If you run out, you're much more likely to lose your life or get seriously wounded."

Jaune pulled out his scroll and winced at his Aura being in the red. "I-I'll pay closer attention, Professor," he promised nervously, feeling small under her stern visage.

"Now, Mr. Winchester, would you like to have your team be the first for Team Matchups?"

Cardin eyed the students before he caught sight of Naruto, narrowing his eyes at the relaxed – if not _bored_ – posture the whiskered blonde had. "Yeah, and I want my team to face Team FUNS."

" _You_ don't select the matchups, Mr. Winchester," Glynda denied sternly. "They are chosen at random, and-"

"My team accepts that challenge, Professor," Cinder cut in demurely, sitting casually with one leg crossed over the other. She smirked at the blonde woman, earning a narrowed look from the Professor as she stood up with the rest of her team. Once the eight students stood across from one another, she added, "We're ready to begin when you are, _Professor_."

Glynda looked ready to lash out before she forcefully reined in her irritation and nodded stiffly. "Very well, then. Team CRDL vs Team FUNS," she declared, silently ordering the two teams to stand at opposite ends of the mockup battleground. "You may all begin."

Cardin and his teammates tensed and readied their weapons, waiting for their opponents to start. When Team FUNS didn't react, Cardin taunted, "What's wrong? Scared of us?"

Naruto snorted with a smirk, saying nothing to them. Instead, he turned back to his team and proposed, "You guys mind if I let off a little steam?"

"Feeling pretty greedy, are ya?" Emerald replied with crossed arms. "Sure you can handle them?"

"You didn't just ask that…" he deadpanned back to her.

"If you really want to," Cinder relented, taking a step back.

"Great." He then reached his left hand over to where his fake arm locked in, giving a rough twist to unlock it before he pulled it out of its socket. The students in the bleachers looked shocked at his display, and he ignored them as he handed the arm to his partner. "Hang onto that for me, will ya, Neo?"

She smirked in response, grabbing the metal arm from him and watching as he turned to face their opponents. Her eyes turned pink with delight, her tongue darting out to lick her lips.

"The hell are you doing?!" Cardin ordered angrily as Naruto slowly walked towards them. "You trying to show off or something, dipshit?!"

"Not at all. I really think that you four won't do anything more than embarrass yourselves. I'm just making a point."

The four teens glared at the blonde at his insult, charging as one with conjoined battle cries. Cardin took the lead with his mace, doing wide swings aimed for Naruto's head that were avoided by lazy leans to the side or backward.

Russel tried to leap over Cardin to get a hit in with his twin daggers, but Naruto bent forward and he sailed over the blonde's back before getting mule kicked away from him. Naruto then spun to the side to evade a slash from Dove's short sword, raising his foot upwards at the end of his spin to kick the weapon out of the teen's hands.

He then slammed his foot down just in time to catch a thrust from Sky's halberd, jamming the bladed end into the ground before he reached his left arm forward to grab the dark blue-haired teen's shirt. With ease, Naruto threw him into Dove and sent the two sprawling onto the floor before he ducked beneath another wide swing of Cardin's mace.

"Hold still, you bastard!"

"No need to bring my dead mother into this, prick," Naruto returned calmly, twisting around another swing before roughly pushing Cardin forward so that he could stumble into Russel, who was trying to get a sneaky hit in on the blonde.

All four members of Team CRDL got back to their feet and gripped their weapons tightly, showing their frustration. With another roar, they charged the smirking blonde once again.

In the bleachers, Blake was smirking at Naruto putting the assholes in their place. She had wanted to get back at them for what they had done to Velvet, but she didn't want to draw attention to herself. Seeing Naruto do it so easily brought no shortage of satisfaction to her.

"Damn, Whiskers is good," Yang praised with an eager grin. "I can't wait to see how I stack up."

"Please, that idiot is showing off. He'll get overwhelmed any minute now," Weiss brushed off, still annoyed at how disinterested the Uzumaki looked during yesterday's lesson.

"He seems to be doing okay so far," Pyrrha mused with a smile. "I agree with Yang; I'd like to have a spar with him later on."

"Me too!" Ruby declared excitedly. "I want to see what his robotic arm can do! Maybe it has hidden blades, or a Dust launcher in the palm, or maybe even-!"

She was silenced by Blake gently pressing a finger to her lips. "Try not to get too excited, Ruby. I can't focus on the match if you're going a mile a minute."

The young team leader blushed in embarrassment at that. "Sorry. I just like seeing different weapons."

Blake gave her an easy smile. "I can tell. Just watch the match though, okay?"

Nodding, Ruby turned back to the one-on-four fight just in time to see Naruto crouch low, avoiding a four-way clash of weapons aimed at his midsection. Spinning with a leg stretched outwards, he tripped them all before he rose up, still spinning, and caught them all with the heel of his leg, sending them flying.

Tumbling across the ground, Cardin got up and took a quick look at his teams Aura levels, frowning at all of them being close to red. "You bastard!" he yelled, charging once again; this time without his teammates backing him up. "I'm gonna wipe that stupid smirk off your face, you damn animal!"

Cardin _did_ succeed; but only in wiping the smirk away.

Standing in place, Naruto raised his hand and caught the mace without so much as a grunt of discomfort. His expression was blank, simply staring at Cardin as he tried to rip his own weapon out of Naruto's iron grip.

"You know," Naruto began, speaking calmly, "you and your buddies really need a reality check."

Pressure began being applied to the mace, the metal of the weapon groaning in protest before small cracks began to form. Cardin's eyes widened at this, and he forwent reclaiming his weapon in exchange for trying to punch Naruto in the face. The blow landed, making him smirk before his expression became one of disbelief at Naruto catching the punch with his whiskered cheek; having suffered no marks or damage.

"Was that supposed to do something?" he asked, still deathly calm as Cardin backed away in slowly building fear. "You and your friends think that you're all big shots who can look down on others because of status or race." His grip tightened further on the mace he still hadn't let go of, producing more cracks on the weapon. "You four idiots need to understand something…"

The mace couldn't take it anymore and shattered, pieces of the weapon falling to the ground alongside its handle. Popping was heard as Naruto finished clenching his fist, cracking his knuckles with ease as he took slow steps toward Cardin.

"Words like status, pride, or race mean shit in the real world. All that matters out there is what you, your team, and everyone else brings. You could be the biggest name in the school; but it doesn't mean a damn thing if it's only in restrained sessions like this."

He had the attention of everyone, the rest of Team CRDL not even making a move to help their team leader.

"Go ahead and keep thinking you're so important. I'll just watch as that pride gets you and your team killed." He turned away from Cardin, looking up briefly at the display of Aura levels on the large screen. His were still fully green with no loss while Cardin's was just above red. "And one more thing," he began before spinning abruptly, landing a heavy punch to Cardin's stomach that knocked the wind and spit out of him, forcing him to bend over as his legs lost their strength. "If I _ever_ see you mistreating another Faunus again…I'll break you."

He then stepped away and allowed the beaten teen to fall to the ground, walking back over to his team and reclaiming his fake arm from Neo. As soon as she handed it back to him, she casually aimed her umbrella tip at the remaining CRDL members, shooting them all in their chests and sending their Aura levels to red.

Glynda, who was silently watching and judging the match, simply nodded and declared, "Team FUNS wins. That's enough matches for today. We'll have more of them in a couple of days." She watched as the students began to leave the gymnasium before she turned to the sole male of FUNS. "Mr. Uzumaki, if you would follow me. I'd like a private word."

Relocking his arm and testing the connection, he replied, "After you, Professor."

As he followed the woman, Cinder called to him, "We'll be in our dorm after your finished, Naruto."

The blonde waved over his shoulder as he followed Glynda through the school. After passing by a few students, he asked, "Can I ask what this is about?"

"The Headmaster would like a quick word," she answered curtly.

"The boss, huh? Wonder why he'd bother to speak to someone like me. I'm just a student, after all."

"Professor Ozpin has spoken to other students personally before; so, don't think so highly about this."

"Whatever you say, Professor," he replied casually, earning a slight frown from her. "You're not a fan of me, are you?"

"Your lack of respect makes it hard to be a _fan_ , Mr. Uzumaki."

"Good luck with that. Where I'm from, I never called anyone by their titles or positions. I preferred to call them by name, or by something I felt fit; like the Old Man."

"How you were never punished, I will never know," she sighed out, imagining his disrespect for authority figures.

"Like I told Cardin and everyone else; titles mean shit in the real world."

"Using language like that will not be tolerated by me, Mr. Uzumaki. You may speak with other students like that, but I expect you to have _some_ level of decorum."

"All this standing on ceremony stuff is pretty stupid, if you ask me."

"Well, I suppose it's a good thing that I'm _not_ asking you," she fired back calmly.

All this did was make Naruto chuckle as they entered an elevator headed for Ozpin's office, pleased to have gotten some fire out of her. While not vocally, Naruto _did_ respect people who were older, more experienced, or just plain _better_ than he was. He just didn't care for all the bells and whistles that came with titles or positions of power.

Hell, if he had become Hokage, he would've been fine with others still calling him by his name. He was, is, and always _will_ be Naruto. No stupid title was going to change that.

When the elevator doors opened once more, Glynda led Naruto inside the spacious office and directed him to stand in front of Ozpin, who was seated at his desk. "I'll be with you in just a moment, Mr. Uzumaki. I'm just finishing something important."

"No rush, Old Man," Naruto waved off, ignoring the sigh Glynda gave at his disrespect.

A chuckle escaped the Headmaster as he finished and shut off his computer monitor. "I suppose I _am_ quite old in your eyes."

"Your gray hairs gave it away," the young man joked as Ozpin offered him the chair across from him. Taking the seat, he asked, "So, what does Beacon Academy's famous Headmaster need with me? Was I a bit rough on Cardin and his team?"

"No, you were within your rights to fight in that spar. And no, you aren't in trouble," the man assured.

"Well, that's a relief. Oh, and for future reference, I didn't do it."

"Good to know," Ozpin replied with another chuckle. "But, back to the reason I asked Glynda to bring you here. I was hoping to discuss something with you."

"And that would be…?" Naruto pressed, dropping his joking posture when he caught Glynda's tensed posture out of the corner of his eye.

Pulling out his scroll, Ozpin slid it across his desk towards the Uzumaki, showing a picture of a familiar red-eyed woman on the screen. "What exactly is the link between you and this woman?" he asked, steepling his hands in front of his face.

* * *

 **Tada! That's all folks!**

 **Ah, the joy of cliffhanging on multiple fronts! In this case, it's in this chapter AND the most recent chapter of this story's Reading Version!**

 _ ***chews on a carrot***_ **Gosh, a** **in't I a stinker?**

 **Anywho! Next chapter will have some serious talks, and perhaps Naruto will FINALLY meet with the dark Queen of the Grimm…**

 **Before I sign off, I wanted to let you guys know that I'm going to give one last go at a** _ **Naruto/Kingdom Hearts**_ **crossover. This one will mostly be made for fun since I'm going to have Naruto traveling around with the adorable trio of faeries known as the Gullwings!**

 **Oh, the mischief those four will get into… I'm growing more excited just THINKING about it!** _ ***chuckling***_

 **Keep a lookout for it when I post it! I hope to have its first chapter done sometime in the coming week!**

 **Until next time!**

 _ **~pain17ification~**_


	8. Chapter 8: Sun meets Queen

**Here comes the long-awaited update!**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **pain17ification**_ **owns nothing**

* * *

 _Sackcloth and Ashes_

 _Chapter Eight: Sun meets Queen_

* * *

Naruto studied the picture of Raven being presented to him, mentally thinking of a believable way to answer Ozpin's question. He could see why Raven didn't trust the man; he was obviously overly paranoid or suspicious of others. It was amazing he even had an inner circle that Glynda was obviously a part of.

"I've only seen this woman a couple of times," he answered, speaking truthfully at first. "The first time was when I was exploring some ruins that had some Grimm. She was camping out alone and had this vibe about her that told me to keep my distance."

"What ruins were you exploring?" the Headmaster pressed calmly.

"Hell if I know," Naruto replied, shrugging carelessly. "I was traveling alone at the time and didn't have any set destination until I heard that Vale was nearby. I'd heard of your school and figured I could find myself."

"Find yourself?" Goodwitch repeated with a raised brow.

Nodding, the Uzumaki elaborated, "I was in a low place after I lost my arm. Someone I saw as a brother had chosen a path I didn't agree to, and I needed him to help me with something personal. We ended up arguing before we fought and blew each other's arms off. I was able to survive, but I was alone when I came to."

The sincerity in his voice slightly stunned the two Huntsmen. "I'll admit that I thought it was a Grimm that took your arm," Ozpin confessed.

Naruto said nothing in response to that, prompting Glynda to resume, "What was the other time you saw this woman?"

"Here in Vale. I bumped into her on the street and she probably took pity on me, because she gave me one of the extra guns she had," he answered, gesturing to the holstered firearm. "She told me I should be more careful before leaving without another word. That's the last time I saw her."

"She never said anything that could warrant suspicion?" Ozpin asked.

"If anyone's suspicious, it's you, old man."

"Is that right?"

"You pulled away a student to ask about a random woman, and you aren't bothering to tell me what's so special about her. What, is she some sort of rogue, or a criminal? Is she one of the Huntresses under your employ that you're concerned about? All I know about her is that she's strong and that she was kind enough to give me a weapon; that's it."

Glynda narrowed her eyes at him. "This woman is more dangerous than you realize."

"Her name is Raven Branwen," Ozpin continued. "She's in charge of a tribe known for their illegal practices."

Crossing his arms, Naruto leaned back in his chair at the information. "How do you know there was some sort of connection between me and this woman, anyway? Spying on the citizens, or were you keeping tabs on her? Because, either answer is pretty messed up."

"In what way?" Ozpin asked curiously.

"If it's the first option, then it shows your _really_ paranoid about what happens in the city. If it's the second, then you were watching a known danger to society and still let her come into contact with someone; aka _me_. Not sure how safe people will feel if that's your method of protecting them."

"You're speaking out of line, Mr. Uzumaki," Glynda admonished.

"No, I'm speaking as a concerned citizen," he argued plainly. "Vale is my home for as long as I'm enrolled in your school. If I know that criminals can walk around without consequence, I'm not sure if I will continue attending and just travel again."

"Cities like Vale provide security and protection," she fired back.

"Half-assed protection, by the look of things."

"How dare-?!"

"Glynda, enough," Ozpin calmly cut in, ignoring the incredulous look the blonde Huntress gave him. "Mr. Uzumaki has the right to speak his mind and bring to our attention his concerns about living in Vale. After all, if we were in his place, I'm sure we'd be just as concerned or critical about Vale's security."

She exhaled sharply through her nose, showing her annoyance at the situation.

"May I be excused now?" Naruto asked blandly. "I need to get back to my team and warn them about some rogue Huntress walking around Vale."

Glynda frowned at his tone while Ozpin let him leave. Once the two were alone, he spoke up, "Curious, isn't it?"

"That you continuously stand up for someone who speaks poorly about us? Yes, I find it both curious and aggravating," she answered.

"Not that. I find it curious how he knows Raven was a Huntress when you nor I said anything about that fact."

She blinked at that, mentally going over the conversation. "You believe there's something he isn't telling us."

"I believe that there's more than meets the eye concerning Mr. Uzumaki."

* * *

"So, what was so important that you were pulled away?" Emerald asked Naruto later that evening.

"Ozpin was asking about some woman I was seen with in the city a while back," he answered, disconnecting his fake arm and setting it on one of the desks. "Apparently, she's dangerous and I called them out on letting her walk around when they knew she was in Vale." He scoffed. "That Goodwitch lady can't take criticism well."

"Who was the woman?" Cinder asked curiously.

Naruto paused for half a second, but he was able to play it off by popping a kink in his right shoulder. Rolling it with the aid of his left hand, he answered, "Never got a name. all I know is that she had black hair and red eyes. She was wearing a simple cloak when I bumped into her."

"Was she one of the people you said helped you find your gun?"

"Yeah. Who knew that a _rogue_ could be so helpful?" he joked, chuckling to himself as he laid back on his bed.

Cinder and Emerald shared a look while Neo eyed them from her own bed. Turning back to him, the False Maiden said, "As much as I don't like agreeing with the man, Ozpin is right on this one. If it's who I believe it is, she's dangerous and has a loyal following under her command."

Sitting up, he regarded Cinder with a raised brow. "Who do you think it is?"

"A woman named Raven Branwen. All I know is that she used to be a Huntress and that she's the leader of the Branwen Tribe; a tribe rumored to be full of killers and thieves."

"No offense, but isn't that the pot calling the kettle black on some level?" Naruto calmly challenged, earning a small smirk from the woman. "But, I'll keep my guard up if I ever see her again. That work?"

"That should be fine. I'm not saying you can't look after yourself, but you can never be too careful."

"Yeah, yeah…" he waved off, laying back down and settling himself to sleep.

Unknown to them all, the blonde with them was merely a clone while the real Naruto had gone off to Vale in the cover of night.

* * *

Red eyes stared out to the horizon from the docks of Vale, unfocused as the owner lost herself in her thoughts. That didn't mean she wasn't aware of her surroundings, like the approaching energy core that was rapidly closing in.

She blinked once to break from her thoughts, turning just in time to see a familiar blonde land in front of her from atop one of the warehouses of the docks. "Any reason you sought me out?"

Naruto rolled his ankle to get rid of a stubborn kink before he answered. "Yeah, there is. Ozpin knows you're here in Vale."

"Of course, he does. I spoke with my brother the day of initiation. He's quite suspicious of you and what I may have planned." She gave an amused smirk. "As if I could have a plan concerning someone so willful."

He rolled his eyes at the quip. "Hello Pot. I'm Kettle," he fired back, actually making her fight a snort. "Anyway, I also wanted to let you know that I'm planning on meeting this leader of the Grimm."

All amusement left Raven's face at that. "Come again?"

"You heard me…"

"I wish I didn't. Are you going back into your depression phase and slipping into suicidal tendencies?"

"Not that I'm aware of," he answered lightly, hoping to ease the tension.

It didn't work.

"This isn't a game, Naruto. Salem is not to be underestimated."

"Salem… So, I finally have a name to match a face to."

"Be serious!" she yelled, her hair flickering crimson briefly. "I've seen enough flashes of your life to know that you're stupidly reckless, and you can't have that same mindset when you interact with Salem! She's had Ozpin opposing her for years, and he still hasn't been able to stop her."

"Hmm…"

She took a breath and crossed her arms. "Look… I've glimpsed at how powerful you are, but power alone is nothing without the brains to use it. You're a knucklehead, and you can't stay as one with the power you can dish it. You need to handle this carefully."

"Uh-huh," was his dull response.

Her brow twitched. "Uzumaki…" she ground out dangerously.

"Yes~?" he asked back with a smile.

"Why are you acting so nonchalant about this?! Salem is nothing to laugh at, and neither is her ability concerning the Grimm or whatever other powers she may have! Are you willing to bet your life when you've never had to deal with her in the first place?!" She gritted her teeth before exploding, "I'VE SEEN WHAT SHE CAN DO!"

Naruto surprised her with an understanding smile. "I know you have, Raven…"

Recoiling, she took an instinctive step back. "W-What?"

"Don't forget that I've seen quite a few glimpses of your life, too… I know what she did to you and how that's only helped her grow stronger."

He took slow steps toward her, and she reflexively gripped the handle of her sword to defend herself.

"I know that you were reckless like I've been my entire life," he continued, keeping his slow pace. "I know that you tried to take her on with some of your tribe, and I know that it ended up a failure."

"Then why are you insisting on going through with this idiotic mission of yours?!" she raged. "You saw what happened to me! That witch ripped out my own darkness and turned it into a Grimm! My idiocy and recklessness only increased the strength of the army under her control!"

He finally stopped right in front of her, simply giving her a confident smile while his blue eyes bored into her red ones. "I'm going through with it because I refuse to be afraid of something I haven't seen personally. I wasn't scared of the Akatsuki, I wasn't scared of Madara, or of Obito, Kaguya, or even Sasuke. I knew what I had to do, and I faced them head-on. I refuse to do things differently just because I'm not home anymore."

She couldn't respond to that, slowly letting go of her sword one finger at a time.

"Besides," he continued, his smile becoming a grin, "I can't fail when I know a friend is worried about me."

She stilled at that. "…What?"

His grin turned cheeky in reply as his body was covered in golden fire, revealing a form she had only seen during his final clash with Kaguya. Absently, she noticed that the energy formed an ethereal right arm with clawed digits the flickered and twitched.

"I'll see ya soon, Raven," he bid before he vanished in a golden flash and a streak of light shot across the sky like a shooting star.

She watched him take off with a stunned gaze, unaware that her face had a faint blush from the warmth he gave. Slowly, her lips curved into a faint smirk as she replied, "Good luck, you stubborn idiot…"

* * *

He covered miles in just a couple minutes, passing over the oceans and smaller landmasses as before he stopped above an abandoned village. Landing down in the center, he dispelled his energy cloak and took a cursory glance at his surroundings.

The town had been abandoned for years, but in its prime, it looked to have had canals, enough space for a large open-air market, and plenty of shops or homes. He spotted a sign with faded lettering, but he was able to decipher the town's name from what he could read.

"Kuroyuri… The Black Lily…" he spoke aloud, his voice soft before he increased his volume. "Do you remember the names of villages or homes you expunge, or were they so forgetful that it didn't matter?"

Silence greeted him, making him sigh.

"I know you're there… You couldn't have missed my approach since I _felt_ you."

"Impressive," a refined woman's voice spoke up, the speaker stepping out of the shadows. Her lips curved into an amused smirk as she walked more towards the center of the village, standing across from the whiskered blonde. "So, you are the source of light that has the Grimm so confounded. I expected someone older, to be honest."

"And I expected something uglier for a being of darkness; no offense. If it helps, small glimpses from visions don't do you justice, Salem," he complimented.

"You flatter me."

"I aim to please. It's how I've lived most of my life; doing right by others, even if I had to suffer for it. I was a living sacrifice, and I personified that by giving up my own happiness for others."

"And you still suffer," she noted, seeing his pain despite how well he hid it behind his blue eyes. "Your eyes scream of loss, of betrayal…of rage."

"Yep."

"And yet…the Grimm seek to protect or avoid you. Most curious…"

He shrugged plainly. "I honestly couldn't care what makes them act like that. I was more focused on the player instead of the pieces she controls on this board."

She hummed in acknowledgment. "It makes sense to know who or what you're up against."

" _Who_ in this case," he clarified. "You're not some thing considering how you have a soul while the Grimm don't."

"And what makes you think I have a soul?" Salem asked curiously.

"I could feel life if I wanted to. While yours seems tainted in some sense, it's still life."

Her curiosity changed to amusement. "You continue to interest me…"

"Naruto," he supplied. "Naruto Uzumaki."

"A pleasure."

"Likewise."

"So," she began, waving her hand to form a table and a couple of chairs with her power. He nodded in thanks for the offered seat, both seated across from the other. "Why seek me out other than to see who the Grimm answer to? Surely, that isn't the only reason."

He shrugged again. "Nothing much other than that, honestly. I never went in with a plan already in mind. I preferred to think on the field rather than beforehand."

"A rather uncommon mindset; but, I can understand where you come from. Things can happen unexpectedly, and any previously laid plans can fall apart in an instant."

"Though, now that I'm here, I _do_ have a couple of questions," Naruto brought up.

"As do I," she replied, waving her arm to him. "The guest has the first move."

"If you make Grimm, who made you? You have a soul, so it's clear that you came from life. But I can't help but wonder where you came from."

She gave a smile at that, chuckling softly at the query. "Believe it or not, I came from the moon after it was shattered; at least, a past version of myself."

"You reincarnate," he deduced.

"In a sense. It's more like a reformation once the form I take reaches the end of its life. In my previous form, I was once male. However, the first form I took was female; one with memories of a different life."

Naruto sighed with a somber look. "Did these memories belong to someone hailed as both a goddess and a demon?" He saw her look intrigued while nodding once. "I see… To think that the future turns so bleak after Sasuke's stupid ambition…"

"You know of the life before my own."

He nodded. "She was someone I fought alongside some comrades to free the world from a state of artificial happiness. They didn't suffer, but they were still dying as their minds lived a paradisiac illusion; the energy that sustained them being used to empower her."

"And yet…you're here now. How far back does your life originate, I wonder…"

"You can wonder all you like. All I care about is either finding a way back or making the most of the time I'm stuck in," Naruto stated, a frown on his face. "I'm giving you this one warning, and I hope you take it to heart."

"A warning?" she repeated, looking slightly amused.

"I can understand why the Grimm act the way they do; but, I'm not going to stay quiet when I see them going after innocent life. So, Salem, if I catch your _pieces_ going after those not part of this _game_ …"

His form was covered in golden fire once more, cracking the ground and shattering the shadow table between them. Salem's eyes widened in delight at the power displayed before her; her amusement changing into excitement.

"…I'll break the board apart, and you'll answer to me. Are we clear?"

Slowly, she rose from her seat before dark violet power began emanating from her form. It grew in strength and started creeping up to his level while her red eyes locked to his now golden orbs.

"You may find it difficult to follow through with that; but, I don't wish to upset one such as you so soon into this game of ours." Her power receded to a minimal level, barely flickering off her skin while Naruto dropped his entirely. "You interest me greatly, Naruto Uzumaki. I hope you continue to do so. Perhaps you may succeed where Ozpin continually fails."

Naruto didn't answer, instead choosing to vanish in a flash of gold that cratered where he once stood. This only made her eyes glow in further delight.

"Interesting indeed," she murmured, shivering at the lingering residue of their mixed powers. Raising her left arm, she chuckled at the sight of it tremoring before her eyes. She clenched her hand to stop the tremors before unfurling her fingers to look at her palm.

Staring back at her was a marking shaped like a crescent moon colored an ebon black.

* * *

The next morning at Beacon, Naruto lounged in his bed as he thought over his talks with Raven and Salem. It was Saturday, which meant no classes until the coming Monday. This left him optimal time to think over many different things; both in the past and current timelines.

To think that he wound up years – more than likely _centuries_ – into the future after his final clash with Sasuke. It was a shock; but not totally unexpected. Considering how the rip he was sent through was spacetime, it obviously meant that he would either be flung to another space or another time.

 _'At least the issue of getting back is narrowed down to one category instead of ALL of them,'_ he mused internally, relieved that it was Time and not Space that he moved through.

If it had been Space, he would've had to search across multiple realities on the _very_ minimal off chance that he found the one his home lived in. And even then, the reality could've just been a very close substitute for the genuine article.

With time, it was simpler. He just needed to keep moving backwards until he reached the waypoint he was sent from; or at least one that's close enough to it. This meant that he needed to think of ways to try it while testing various methods with clones.

Someone poking his head broke him from his thoughts, and he turned to see Neo looking at him curiously. "What's up?" he asked.

Seeing as they were alone since Cinder and Emerald went into the city to shop, Neo answered, "You've been lying there for hours. What's eating you?"

He snorted and joked, "I'm at the top of the food chain. Nothing eats me."

The dry look she sent him could've turned a glacier to water.

He chuckled at her expression, turning his gaze back to the ceiling of their dorm. "In all seriousness, I'm just thinking about home and how I could try getting back."

She nodded in understanding, despite the anxiety she felt creeping up her spine. "If you were able to…would you go alone?"

He blinked at the question before looking back at her, noting how she wasn't meeting his gaze. Realization slowly came to him, making him smile softly. "I'd take some people with me if it was safe enough…and if they really wanted me to."

She turned back to him in surprise, her eyes both white as they looked into his blue ones. Slowly, she smiled back while the whites changed into pinks. With a silent nod, she moved over to her bed and sat down before pulling out her sketchbook.

Naruto chuckled softly at her before tensing as his scroll vibrated in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw it was an unknown caller and got out of bed. "I'll be back," he told his partner before leaving the dorm.

Neo raised a brow at his abrupt exit before shrugging to herself. She trusted him enough not to feel any need to pry. He would tell her if it was important.

* * *

 _"Still alive, I see,"_ Raven's voice spoke through the scroll, hiding her relief with ease.

"Yeah. I gotta say, the Hive Queen wasn't what I was expecting," Naruto replied, speaking carefully in case anyone decided to eavesdrop. "You were right though; she's dangerous."

 _"I'm more surprised that she let you leave without any issues…"_

"She said that I was _interesting_. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing yet."

 _"Consider it a bad thing. Salem showed_ interest _in my darkness before she turned it into a Grimm. If you_ interest _her, then you're in her crosshairs."_

"Figured as much," Naruto groused.

 _"Just be happy that it means she won't try to kill you. If anything, she may try to make you see things her way and get you to join her side."_

"Anyone I should be on the lookout for?"

 _"Besides that Fall girl, you mean,"_ she clarified. _"Three men work for her from what I've been able to find out. Doctor Arthur Watts, formerly of Atlas is the first. The next is a scorpion Faunus named Tyrian Callows, known for his cruelty and fanatical devotion. I've lost some good tribesmen from the bastard."_

"And the third?" Naruto pressed calmly, walking through the halls and easily avoiding other students.

 _"He's named Hazel Rainart, and he's got some serious grudges against Ozpin since Hazel's younger sister died during a training mission. She was a Beacon student."_

"So, he blames Ozpin for her death since he should've been able to prevent it; considering how she perished during _training_ …"

 _"Exactly. While Watts isn't known for his combative abilities, he's still intelligent enough for Salem to accept. It's mainly Tyrian and Hazel you'd need to look out for. I'll send you some photos of the three of them that we were able to get."_

"Thanks, Rae," he replied, still speaking carefully.

 _"In the meantime, I have a favor to ask."_

"Oh?"

 _"…Keep an eye on Yang for me, will you?"_

He paused in his trek, not answering immediately as he heard the pleading tone in her voice. "…She's actually starting to be a friend of mine, and you know how I try to look out for _all_ of my friends."

* * *

Unseen by him, Raven smiled faintly on the other end before hanging the payphone she had used. Disconnecting the signal encryption, she placed it in her pack and walked off towards the ports.

A ship was scheduled to sail to Mistral and there was a certain _cowardly lion_ she needed to speak to.

* * *

 **That's that! Shorter than previous chapters, but I needed to get something out there before my muse was lost on this. I'm eagerly awaiting anything regarding Volume 6.**

 **Hope you guys liked the chapter and Naruto's talks with both Raven and Salem. Regarding Salem's origins, I'm sure many of you saw this coming and I hope it's interesting enough to have you come back for more.**

 **One thing I'm on the fence about is Cinder… I'm not sure if I want her in the pairing, despite the summary of the story directly referencing her and the "corruption" going on between her and Naruto. If I switched her out, who should take her place?**

 **And don't give me short answers; I want SOLID reasons for the choice you throw out there!**

 **One last thing before I go. On Labor Day weekend, San Jose (CA) is having an anime convention. I'm going to drive there for the weekend to attend and I'm pretty excited (considering how it's the first time I'm GOING to one).**

 **If any of you readers are in the area at the time, I hope I get to bump into you. I'm not sure what would be good meeting grounds, so I suppose it'll all be based on luck. Still, it'd be nice to see at least ONE reader to talk to.**

 **Until next time!**

 _ **~pain17ification~**_


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